No jail for woman who left 4-year-old alone to gamble

A New Jersey woman who pleaded guilty to leaving her 4-year-old girl alone in a hotel room while she gambled at an eastern Pennsylvania casino last fall has been placed on five years' probation.

LehighValleyLive.com reports that 27-year-old Rebecca Yandoli said Tuesday she's taken steps to make sure that such a thing wouldn't happen again, and Northampton County prosecutors then agreed that probation was appropriate.

Police were called to the Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem around 4 a.m. on Nov. 16 after the girl was found wandering alone in the casino’s hotel lobby. The girl told the officers she was looking for Yandoli, who was soon found gambling on the main floor of the casino.

Authorities say the Whitehouse Station resident told officers she had left the girl alone in the hotel room around 1:15 a.m. and then went to gamble. She pleaded guilty in February to child endangerment. Her attorney said she had an “overwhelming compulsion" to gamble.

Yandoli said Tuesday she hadn't gambled since that night and was going to Gamblers Anonymous meetings. She said she was also receiving counseling, going to alcoholic and narcotics anonymous meetings and had completed a parenting class.

“I’m just taking as many strides as I can to never be the person who committed the offense, doing everything I can to be a healthier mother and the best individual I can be today,” Yandoli said.

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