California police say mother left 3 children alone for hours to smoke cocaine

A mother was high on cocaine and left her three children alone in a short-term rental for hours, police in California said.

this 44-year-old buckskin lady The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a June 3 news release that she was arrested on Saturday, June 1, on charges of child abuse and neglect after deputies went to her home multiple times.

The department said police first responded to a short-term rental in Big Bear on the evening of Friday, May 31, for a welfare check after a woman was accused of leaving her three children home alone for five hours.

Officers said they forwarded a report of the incident to San Bernardino County Children and Family Services.

The next day, officers were called to the same woman’s Fawnskin home and found more than 40 dogs trapped in cages “without food or water in the heat of the day,” the sheriff’s department said.

The woman, who told authorities she cared for the dogs, was arrested but later released on animal cruelty charges, according to police.

Officers were called to the woman’s home again later that day, the department said.

This time, officers said they were investigating possible neglect of the woman’s 8-year-old daughter.

The girl was taken to hospital with wounds that were “not properly treated,” police said.

Police said during their investigation, they learned the woman left the child alone Friday night and traveled more than 40 miles to Victorville to use cocaine.

The woman was arrested for child abuse/neglect, police said.

The county’s Child and Family Services agency took over the care of the three children after the woman was no longer in their care, troopers said.

The woman’s bail was set at $100,000 and she is expected to appear in court on June 4.

Daniella Segura is a national breaking news reporter for McClatchy. Previously, she worked as a multimedia reporter for weekly and daily newspapers in the Los Angeles area. Her work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association. She is also an alumna of USC and UC Berkeley.