KALISPELL (AP) – A woman accused of leaving her 2- and 3-year-old daughters home alone, in squalor, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of criminal endangerment.
Police who arrested Rachael O’Brien, 24, on Aug. 4 said she went to her restaurant job that day and left the children home alone for more than nine hours. Officers who found the girls reported they were crying and dirty, and the house smelled of feces.
O’Brien, scheduled for trial Feb. 4, remained in jail Thursday on $50,000 bail. Her children were placed in state care.