Unidentified Infants - 1 and 3 yo - Whitehall PA

A woman who choked two of her grandchildren, hit their heads against a
wall and the floor and then fell asleep was sentenced Monday to eight
to 23 months behind bars by a Lehigh County judge.

Kathleen Barthol, 49, of 139 Fifth St., Slatington, was charged in May for assaulting the children, ages 1 and 3, on Feb. 28 in a home in the 700 block of W. Union Street, Whitehall Township, according to court papers. She pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child on June 29.

In addition to being sentenced to eight to 23 months in Lehigh County
Prison, she was also ordered by Judge Kelly L. Banach to serve 12
months of probation, and was ordered to undergo a drug and alcohol
evaluation and treatment, if recommended.

Barthol must also go through a psychological evaluation and get
treatment, if necessary, and cannot have contact, direct or indirect,
with the children, unless it is approved by the children's mother, the
judge ruled.

Police say the children were found with scrapes and bruises and were
taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. Barthol was left to care
for the children while their parents left to deal with a personal
matter, police said.

A 7-year-old at the home told police he saw Barthol grab both of the
children, choke them and hit their heads against a wall and the floor.
Afterward, Barthol fell asleep, the boy told police.

When officers arrived they smelled alcohol on Barthol and she admitted
she had been drinking, police say. The officers also found a bottle of
vodka.

She told police she didn't remember what happened.