VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A mother who left her two young children at home to go partying will spend time in jail.
On Monday, March 2nd a judge in Van Buren County Circuit Court sentenced Sydnie Danielle Green to spend 300 days in jail and undergo two years of probation.
The 22-year-old was arrested in September 2019 for leaving the two toddlers at her Hartford home while she traveled to spend time with friends in Battle Creek, over an hour away.
The 1 and 2-year old children were found the next day on September 14th standing in the middle of County Road 687 wearing soiled diapers and suffering from dehydration. An investigation was launched after officers with the Pokagon Tribal Police Department and a postal worker discovered the children wandering all alone.
Van Buren County Sheriff’s deputies tracked down where the children lived, and after finding the residence empty began to search for Green. She was later contacted and admitted to deputies that she left the two toddlers alone for around 17 hours while she went to stay in Battle Creek overnight.
Green was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree child abuse right after the encounter. The two unnamed children were turned over to the care of family members with the help of Child Protective Services.
On December 16th the second count of child abuse was dropped after Green entered a plea agreement with the Van Buren County Prosecutor’s Office.
During her sentencing, county circuit judge Kathleen Brickley ruled that she would not be able to have any unsupervised visits to see her children while on probation and would have to first seek approval by the Michigan Department of Corrections.
