Moorcroft woman guilty of child endangerment

A Moorcroft woman has pled guilty to a felony charge of child endangerment after allegedly leaving a small child alone without making any provisions for their safety.

The Crook County Sheriff’s Office was alerted at around 3 a.m. on February 4 that a two-year-old child had been left unattended at a residence on Hwy 16 in Moorcroft. Jennifer Ely had allegedly left the residence somewhere between 11 p.m. and midnight and another person had returned there at around 1 a.m. to find the child alone.

Ely allegedly stated that the child was asleep when she left and that she had knowingly left the child there. Court reports note that the temperature in the area at the time of the incident was around minus ten degrees Fahrenheit. Allegedly, no provisions had been made for the child’s safety in the event of an emergency.

Ely told law enforcement that she had left the residence to visit a friend in Gillette and admitted to having consumed alcohol to the point of impairment before leaving. According to reports, she returned to the residence at around 12:15 p.m. the following afternoon.

A check of Ely’s record also allegedly revealed two prior arrests in California for child endangerment, both related to driving while under the influence with a child in the vehicle.

Ely pled guilty to one count of abandoning or endangering a child and was given a sentence of one year of incarceration in the Crook County Detention Center, with all but 120 suspended (including credit for 36 days already served). After her release from custody, Ely will serve one year of supervised probation.