Police: 3 young children drink vodka while mother away

Police in North Carolina say officers found three children age 7 and younger drinking vodka while their mother was away from the home for at least seven hours.

Gastonia police tell news outlets 26-year-old Tyeisha Coneisha Streater is charged with misdemeanor child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to police, officers found the oldest child had also defecated outside their apartment and simulated a sex act on her brother. Investigators say the 7-year-old also wandered into traffic and tried to stop cars.

Streater told police her children were asleep when she went to a laundromat with her 8-month-old child and that the alcohol bottles had been filled with water.

Streater is jailed on a $25,000 bond. Online records don’t say if she has an attorney.