Mom Left Kids With Pedophile, Police Say

The mother of three children who police say were sexually assaulted by a man who admitted to having “sexual dreams” about them allowed the man to spend time alone with her children even after she was warned not to by a child welfare investigator, according to court papers.

The 37-year-old woman who lives in South Bethlehem was arrested Tuesday and charged with four felony counts of endangering the welfare of children.

According to arrest papers, the mother, whose name Patch is withholding to protect the identity of her children, was told on June 25 by an investigator from Lehigh County Children & Youth not to leave her children in the care of the man, who is a relative.

He is accused of victimizing three children—aged 7, 8 and 15—on numerous occasions. He was arrested and jailed on July 22 after he admitted to numerous sexual assaults on the children to a Bethlehem police detective.

On Friday, the mother admitted to a Northampton County Children & Youth investigator that she had, on several occasions after the June warning, left her children alone with the accused pedophile, police said.

She also admitted to allowing the relative to spend the night at her home on July 21, the day her 7-year-old child was sexually assaulted, police said.

She was arraigned before District Judge Nancy Matos-Gonzalez and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $40,000 bail. Her children are in the care of Northampton County Children & Youth, police said.