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Mom pleads guilty to child endangering after kids found alone
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman facing charges from June 2013 pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangering.
Kacee Moser, 26, entered her pleas Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before Judge Maureen Sweeney.
The charges are each third-degree felonies and carry a sentence of six to 36 months in prison for each count.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said she is recommending Moser go to prison, but her attorney, Tony Meranto, said he will argue for probation at her sentencing.
A sentencing date has not been set.
In exchange for her pleas, four other counts of child endangering were dropped.
Police said Moser, of Beaver Township, went to work the overnight shift at a Western Reserve Road nursing home June 16, 2013, and left her two children, 3 years and 9 months old at the time, strapped in their car seats in front of the television.
Police found the children home alone and went to the nursing home to question Moser. She ran away from the home.
She surrendered to police two days later. Police initially were called to the home by a woman who knew Moser was working and was concerned about the children. Police saw the children through a living-room window and broke the window to get to them.
Moser also asked Judge Sweeney to have her bond reinstated Tuesday. Her bond was revoked after she picked up a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge Jan. 1 in Conneaut.
Judge Sweeney agreed to the request, with the stipulation that she do everything the county Children Services Board requires of her.
Meranto is the third attorney Moser has had representing her in the case. She told Judge Sweeney she’s staying with her mother until her sentencing hearing.