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Cops: Woman Left 3 Kids At Motel For Days While Allegedly On "Drug Binge"

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A woman is facing child endangerment charges after leaving her three young children at a motel for three days.

According to police, the children were left in the care of a couple of friends at the Days Inn on Banksville Road. Hotel staff said the children were well-mannered and spent their days at the pool.

The couple told police that 32-year-old Tabatha Graczyk asked them to watch the children for a few hours Friday night. On Sunday, Graczyk still had not returned to care for her children.

The children range in age from 8 months to 3 years old.

The couple tried to contact Graczyk numerous times via text message. On two occasions, Graczyk responded and said she would return to the motel within a couple of hours. They also informed Graczyk that the children were running out of food, clothing and diapers.

When they couldn't reach her on Sunday, they called police, saying that the mother was "on a drug binge." When officers arrived, they found one child had open burn marks on their hands. A second child had previous burn marks and a third had no more formula.

The children were transported to Children's Hospital for treatment before being taken into the care of Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families.

Due to previous neglect complaints, CYF had been looking for the children for about a month.

Eventually, Graczyk arrived at Children's Hospital and was taken into custody. She told police she was looking for apartments and stayed with friends for two nights while her children were at the motel.

Graczyk said she would fail a drug test because she had been taking Percocet because her tooth hurt. She did not have a prescription for the Percocet. She said she didn't return to the hotel because she took the pills and fell asleep.

Graczyk also said she was on probation for another neglect incident two years ago. In that case, she said she was on methadone and one of the children overdosed.

She is facing three counts of endangering the welfare of children.

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