WEXFORD COUNTY, MI – A 34-year-old Cadillac woman will spend three months in jail for leaving her four young children locked inside a minivan for more than seven hours while she worked at a nearby Subway restaurant.

Pennie Cates was sentenced this week to 90 days in the Wexford County Jail. She will, however, be credited for 72 days already served since July. Cates also must complete 20 months of probation.

Arrangements for the childrens' care were handled through Child Protective Services, police said.

Cadillac Police Detective Lt. Todd Golnick said officers discovered Cates’ children in her Buick minivan, parked near dumpsters in a McDonald’s parking lot off M-115, after a manager there called to report a suspicious situation about 1:45 p.m. on July 29.

The van had been parked in the McDonald’s lot since 6 a.m., the manager said, but employees noticed its emergency flashers blinking only minutes before. The manager walked out and found several children inside.

Responding police found four children: a 1-year-old girl, 2-year-old girl, 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy.

Fortunately, Golnick said, the van was not parked in the sun and the temperature that day was cooler than normal. The windows were all rolled up, but the inside temperature was not uncomfortable.

Police spoke with the oldest child and were told he and his siblings had been left in the van “at least three times” while their mother, Cates, worked nearby.

Cates had not been out to check on them since she left at 6 a.m., the child told police, and the kids had no food or water.

According to Golnick, the children all were soiled and had no chance to use a bathroom in the hours they were inside the van. The kids were “pretty restless and agitated,” he said.

Cates’ shift at the Subway restaurant was from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., but she had offered to work overtime that day, Golnick said.

Cates at first told police she had left her children with a relative, but later admitted to leaving them in the vehicle, according to Golnick. The fact she not only left them in the vehicle, but did not come out to check on them and parked it behind a dumpster in a place not visible to her was concerning for authorities.

“The choice to literally leave the children alone was horrific,” Golnick said, noting it wasn’t just a situation of a parent stepping into a store for a few minutes.

“It was all day.”