Woman sentenced for leaving son in trash

LANCASTER, Ohio, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- An Ohio woman was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison for leaving her toddler in a trash bin and closing the lid.

Tonja Janelle Morin of Lancaster, Ohio, said she never meant to harm her son, Tyler, who was 2 at the time of the incident. She said she was trying to get the attention of her husband that 95-degree summer day, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported.

Morin, 28, had pleaded guilty to child endangering, felonious assault and kidnapping for the July 17, 2006, incident in which she left her son in the trash bin for about 45 minutes.

Fairfield County Judge Chris Martin sentenced Morin to five years for child endangering and four years for felonious assault, and ordered the sentences to run consecutively, the newspaper reported.

He sentenced her to three years on the kidnapping charge, but suspended the sentence and ordered her to be put on probation for five years -- and to undergo mental health treatment.