A Kentucky mother who patronized a local pub while her three children ages 3, 2 and 1 were left in her vehicle for hours will serve three years in a state penitentiary.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate sentenced Mercedes Carrier, 22, who pleaded guilty in November to three counts of second-degree criminal abuse (child 12 or younger), a Class D felony; three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, a Class A misdemeanor; second-degree disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor; and alcohol intoxication in a public place, first and second offenses, a violation.

Per her plea agreement, three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, a Class D felony, were dismissed.

At 10:05 p.m. on Sept. 17, Frankfort Police were called to the parking lot at Rose’s Pub on Elkhorn Court in regards to three young children who had been left in a Mitsubishi Outlander.

Officers, who noted the outside temperature was 76 degrees, located the vehicle, which had three children in the backseat and no adults in the vicinity.

When police arrived a one-year-old male was unconscious and unresponsive and unrestrained in a car seat under a thick wool blanket. A two-year-old male was screaming in the backseat and a three-year-old was awake and alert, according to Carrier’s arrest citation.

“I observed all three had white rings around their lips,” Officer Austin Childers wrote in the arrest report. “The children also had red faces and were sweating and showed signs consistent with dehydration.”

When EMS arrived to transport all three children to Frankfort Regional Medical Center, officers observed Carrier leaving the bar. Police noted that she was uneasy on her feet, had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on her breath and her speech was slurred.
Per her arrest report, Carrier began screaming profanities and speaking incoherently when she saw that her children were receiving medical attention. Officers warned her numerous times to stop yelling, but she refused to do so.

She eventually told police that she left her children in the SUV “to go inside Rose’s Pub due to the fact that she was having issues with her ‘baby daddy.’” Carrier added that the children were left unattended for about 15 minutes before authorities arrived on the scene.

Officers notified child protective services.

At her sentencing on Friday, Wingate stated that the Commonwealth opposes probation in her case.
“And so do I,” the judge added. “You will be taken into custody at this time.”