A Belgrade woman is charged with leaving her boyfriend's baby inside a hot car while she gambled inside a hotel casino.

Bozeman police arrived at the Magnuson Grand Hotel just after 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, after witnesses reported a baby boy was strapped into his car seat and had been there for up to a half hour. Witnesses told police they could not find a parent anywhere in the vicinity.

Officers found the car was unlocked and quickly got the baby out of the seat. They describe the boy as sweating profusely, lethargic, and appeared to be very red. Soon after that, 26-year-old Kathryn Aldrich walked out of the hotel. According to court documents, Aldrich told officers she was watching the child and would come out of the hotel every so often after gambling to check on the boy and give him water. When officers told Aldrich that the child was soaked in sweat, she apparently responded that it was because the child dumped the water on himself.

Officers checked with the casino runner, who reported that Aldrich had been at the casino for more than an hour when officers arrived. A firefighter on scene tested the child seat with an electronic thermometer and found it was approximately 104 degrees. Aldrich was arrested, and the boy's father was called to come pick him up at the hotel.

Aldrich appeared in court Thursday morning in Bozeman. She is charged with felony criminal endangerment.