A 29-year-old Fort Wayne woman was sentenced Thursday to a year of probation after pleading guilty to a felony charge of child neglect.
Allen Superior Judge John F. Surbeck sentenced Amber Tinsley to a one-year suspended jail term and a year of probation after Tinsley admitted to leaving five children alone in her home for two hours in March 2011.
Police went to Tinsley's home in the 900 block of Hamilton Avenue in March 2011 after a 9-year-old boy told dispatchers that he and four other children were home alone with a burglar alarm sounding and did not know where his mother went.
At the time, police described the home as being in "dirty, filthy" conditions, according to court documents. Some rat poison and a container of alcohol allegedly were left within reach of the children, the youngest of whom was 3.
The 9-year-old told police Tinsley had left the children alone for two hours, and police allegedly waited another 45 minutes before she telephoned.
