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Pregnant woman gets 4th arrest for leaving kids to play poker
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Posted on Mar 07 2006
A woman who was convicted last year for leaving her minor children unattended to play poker was arrested again on Monday for allegedly doing the same thing.
Lincy C. Santos, now nine months pregnant, was arrested for alleged child neglect. It was her fourth arrest on the same charges, police said yesterday.
Santos, 28, was taken to a bail hearing yesterday before Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona Villagomez Manglona.
After learning of her pregnancy, Manglona did not impose a bail for the defendant but required her to observe a daily curfew and stay away from all poker arcades, among other conditions.
Santos left her three children inside her house in San Jose to play poker. Her neighbors noticed that she was gone for five hours, police said.
Police later saw the defendant playing poker in San Jose. The children are between one to seven years old.
In May 2005, Associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Santos to six months in prison, all suspended except for one day, for disturbing the peace.
Wiseman placed the defendant on six months probation and required her to pay a $50 fine and $85 in court assessment and probation fees. Santos was required to perform 40 hours of community work service and undergo counseling.
The Attorney General’s Office charged the defendant with three counts of child abuse or neglect and one count of disturbing the peace.
The plea agreement stated that on Jan. 6, 2005 Santos left her house, leaving her 6-year-old child in charge of his brother and sister and that the minor “was disturbed by such conduct.”
According to court documents, personnel from the Division of Youth Services caught Santos playing poker at Leo Poker in San Jose at about 5:15 p.m.
Court papers said it was the defendant’s husband who called the authorities about the incident.
Investigators learned that the husband went to work and left their three children ages 6 years old, 1 year and 5 months at home with Santos.
When the husband called the house at 2pm, it was the 6-year-old who answered the phone because Santos was not there.
