Mom Left Her Baby in the Car Alone for Hours While She Gambled

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Every year children die after their parents leave them unattended in hot cars. Science has proven that the phenomenon of forgetting children in cars is a lapse in memory, a deviation from a specific routine, and most often it's not intentional.

But recently, one Oklahoma mother made a conscious decision to leave her young child in the car while she gambled at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. As a result, she's been arrested.

The mother told police she was looking for the child's father.

Police received a phone call May 31 claiming that a child had been left alone in a car, Fox 23 reported. When Daci Yeager, the mother of the 16-month-old, saw police cars surrounding her vehicle around 3 p.m., she came running out of the building.

In body cam footage, you can hear Yeager tell authorities that she is a nurse and had only been inside for 20 minutes. She claimed she was inside the building looking for the child’s father. Security footage, however, showed something else entirely.

Footage revealed that Yeager was in the casino from 9:30 a.m. until around 3 p.m.

The video showed Yeager inside the casino for several hours. Police state that Yeager arrived at 9:30 a.m., according to News 9. She didn’t come back out to check on the child until just before 3 p.m., when police arrived.

The car was on with the air conditioner running, and the child was locked inside. As Yeager approached her car, the officer asked her, “Why are we leaving an infant in the car?”

When Yeager said she went to find the child’s father, the officer said, “This is stuff I put people in prison for.”

Eventually, Yeager admitted she had been gambling.

Yeager told police that her child was born at 25 weeks, according to a video posted on Instagram. She said she was in the hospital with him for seven months and would never do anything to put him in danger. The child, who was said to be fine at the scene, was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

The toddler reportedly had a filthy diaper, Chief Ronnie Benight of the Catoosa Police said. During questioning, Yeager gave police several different stories about that happened that day. Eventually, when an officer asked if she had been gambling, she said, “Yeah.”

'How irresponsible can you be?' the police chief said to Yeager.

Benight is reportedly no stranger to investigating cases in which children have been forgotten in cars, but the fact that this was intentional makes it that much worse.

"How irresponsible can you be? If you've got a problem, get help. Especially if it is to the point where you are endangering your children,” he said, per News 9. "Somebody could break into your car and steal the car, car could quit running, the air conditioning could stop.”

Yeager was charged with child neglect.

Rogers County Jail

Yeager was arrested and taken to Rogers County Jail, according to City News Tulsa. She was charged with child neglect. She later bonded out of jail.

At the scene, Yeager told police that she is all her child has. Thankfully, the baby is in good health. The child is now in the custody of the child welfare Department.