Wisconsin mom to be sentenced in deaths of three kids

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who left her children locked in a bedroom is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for their deaths in a house fire.

Twenty-five-year-old Angelica D. Belen, of West Allis, pleaded guilty last summer to felony child neglect in the April 11 deaths of her 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old twin sons.

Court documents say the children had been locked in a bedroom for hours before they died. Belen told investigators she locked them in the room because she had to go to a new job and she didn’t want them wrecking the house or getting outside where neighbors could see they were unattended.

Child welfare workers had repeatedly warned Belen about leaving the children alone, and she had previously been charged with child neglect.