A woman has pleaded guilty to two charges related to leaving her infant twins home alone to go drinking.

Bonnie Elk, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of Class C felony abuse or neglect of a child Wednesday at the Burleigh County Courthouse.

South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty ordered a presentence investigation and a chemical dependency evaluation be done before sentencing in the case.

Elk told Hagerty a neighbor had agreed to watch the children, a boy and a girl, on June 13 so she could go out with a friend.

Hagerty asked Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Feland to give more details about the incident.

Feland said Bismarck police were called to a south Bismarck apartment early in the morning on June 14. A woman reported seeing Elk stumble out of the apartment building, but she did not see Elk's children. She was worried the children might be alone in the apartment.

The children's father, who lived in a different apartment in the building, also felt the children must be in the apartment if they weren't with Elk, Feland said.

She said officers went into the apartment and found the children rolling around on a bed. One officer wrote in a police report that he was concerned for their safety.

"He felt the children were in danger of rolling off the bed," Feland said.

She said police located Elk at a residence in Mandan. She was intoxicated.

Feland said Elk gave the officers names of three different people who were supposed to be watching her children before admitting she had left them alone to go drinking.

Elk faces up to five years in prison on each charge.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)