MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie mother was arrested after being accused of leaving two children home alone.

Elizabeth Martinez, 33, was charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to court documents, officers with the Muncie Police Department were dispatched to a home in the 2800 block of W. Burnell Drive on Sept. 5 after a resident reportedly located a 3-year-old child screaming and crying outside.

When officers arrived, they located the child. Officers later went inside the residence to perform a welfare check and found a 1-year-old child sleeping in one of the bedrooms.

As one of the officers was communicating with the Department of Child Services on the phone, a woman came to the residence and identified herself as Martinez, the mother of the children.

Court documents revealed that Martinez told officers she left the children at her home alone while she dropped her older child off at school. Martinez stated that she then went to the Northside Muncie YMCA and watched the two younger children using a camera affixed to the home.

Martinez also claimed that she had done this four or five times. She told police she left the house around 7:40 a.m. and returned around 10:30 a.m.

An official with the Indiana Department of Child Services was called to the scene. Officers asked Martinez’s husband, reportedly at work, to return home. He stated that he was unaware that the children were left unattended, according to court documents.

Martinez is set for a court hearing on Sep. 29.