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2 Indiana women accused of leaving children in car to drink in bar

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Two Indiana women are accused of leaving a car full of children outside a bar while they went inside to drink, prosecutors said.

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Melissa C. Bentley, 31, and Alicia M. Terry, 31, both of Fort Wayne, were charged in newly released documents from Allen Superior Court, WANE-TV reported.

Bentley was charged with three felony counts of neglect of a dependent and a misdemeanor count of public intoxication, according to online court documents. Terry was charged with one felony count of neglect of a dependent and one misdemeanor count of public intoxication, records show.

Prosecutors said that the two women went to Henry’s bar in Fort Wayne on Monday between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT, WANE reported.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the women left four children -- ages 13, 10, 3 and 4 weeks -- in a vehicle outside the bar for up to four hours.

Prosecutors alleged that Bentley became intoxicated and “wobbled” when she walked. She also could not properly start the vehicle and the 13-year-old heard her say, “I can’t see anything.”

The 13-year-old called her grandparents “because she did not want her mother to drive and she was scared,” court documents said.

Officers from the Fort Wayne Police Department arrived after midnight, WANE reported. They discovered Terry ill in the bar’s restroom; the woman told police she had only consumed two glasses of wine four hours apart, prosecutors said.

Both women were initially booked into an Allen County jail but were given conditional releases, according to the television station.