Mother Leaves 12-Year-Old Home Alone for Wedding
Woman enters guilty plea to charges she endangered her child
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SAN FRANCISCO - OCTOBER 15: Same-sex couple Shani Lyons (L) and Melanie Franklin (R) exchange rings during their wedding ceremony October 15, 2008 at City Hall in San Francisco, California. Same-sex couples are rushing to get married before the November election in fear that anti-gay marriage initiative proposition 8 will pass and gay marriages will once again be illegal in California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Shani Lyons;Melanie Franklin
A North Jersey mother pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges she left her daughter home alone to get married in Idaho.
Sarah Haines, 31, of Mount Olive, N.J., was charged with child neglect.
Haines was arrested last June after neighbors alerted police that her 12-year-old daughter was left on her own to care for herself and three dogs.
The girl told police that her mother left $10 in cash and food for what was to be a three-day trip to Washington State. Haines was actually in Idaho and didn't return for seven days because her flight home was canceled.
Haines said she asked a friend to look in on the girl while she was away.
Morris County prosecutors will recommend she serve three years probation when Haines is sentenced next month.
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