A Maryland mother will spend 5 days behind bars for leaving her daughter inside a car while she gambled.
Crews responded to a Maryland Live! Casino parking garage around 6:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve for an unattended child inside a parked car.
An investigation revealed that the child's mother, 24-year-old Alicia D. Brown of Baltimore, entered the garage around 10 a.m. then went to the casino. The child was found approximately 8 hours later.
A police report said blankets covered the rear windows of the vehicle so that no one could see the child inside.
Brown pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment Thursday. She was sentenced to three years in jail, but most of her sentence was suspended, though she'll remain on probation for the full sentence.
A judge ordered Brown not to enter a casino or gaming facility for the duration of her probation.
A recent News4 I-Team investigation found Brown's case is just one of seven recent instances of children being left unattended in cars outside Maryland casinos.
