Mom & boyfriend plead guilty to felony child abuse charges for leaving kids in desert

The mother of three young children who were found by deputies wandering the desert in Twentynine Palms on the morning of July 13 pleaded guilty Wednesday morning, along with her boyfriend, to felony child abuse charges.

According to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, Mary Bell and Gary Cassle pleaded guilty as charged Wednesday morning to three felony counts of child abuse. They were sentenced to 240 days in jail and four years of probation.

The DA’s Office said Bell and Cassle are also facing a protective order for their children and the defendants aren’t allowed to make contact with one another.

They pleaded guilty at the San Bernardino Superior Court in Joshua Tree.

They were both arrested on July 13 after neighbors told police that a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy were wandering alone in the 74000 block of Samarkand Drive.

The 5, 6 and 7-year old children had been in the elements about 45 minutes, and investigators from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department say they were left without water or shoes.

It was approximately 94 degrees at 11:22 a.m. when the children were located.

Mary Bell, 34, the mother of the children, and her boyfriend, Gary Cassle, 29, were both arrested on charges of felony child endangerment and child abuse.

Police say Cassle and Bell left the three children, by themselves “for disciplinary purposes,” according to a news release.

The couple was living in their car, and were located down the street from where the children were found.

Cassle and Bell are being held at the Morongo Basin Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The children were taken into custody of Children and Family Services.

Anyone with information related to the investigation is asked to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Morongo Basin Station at (760) 366-4175. Anonymous tips can also be collected via We-Tip at 1-888-78-CRIME.