Sierra Rae Moran, 31, Minot, is charged with two counts of Class C felony child neglect in district court in Minot in regards to the care of her 2-month-old son.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Moran left the baby in the care of her ex-boyfriend, a known drug dealer, on Saturday, June 1. The ex-boyfriend is not the baby’s father. Another man called police on behalf of Atkinson for help in getting the baby back.

Moran had been at the park with the baby, her brother and a friend. The baby needed a bottle, so Moran allowed her brother to walk him back to her apartment. Her brother returned without the baby and said he had left him behind at the apartment with Moran’s ex-boyfriend. Moran called a male friend to pick her up from the park. More than two hours later, the male friend called police to ask for help in retrieving the child. Police tried to contact the ex-boyfriend at his apartment but were unsuccessful. Eventually a woman, Moran’s female friend who had been at the park with her earlier in the day, answered the door. The woman was holding the baby.The female friend said she, not Moran’s brother, took the baby back to Moran’s ex-boyfriend’s apartment to get a bottle.

While police were speaking with her friend, Moran began gathering items from the apartment. The apartment was cluttered and appeared dirty. There was an apparent bullet hole in the outside wall where the front door is attached. According to the affidavit, the bullet hole appeared to have been fired from inside the apartment. Moran’s friend said she did not hear a gunshot when Moran’s ex-boyfriend was present in the apartment because she had been outside. She claimed the ex-boyfriend told her it was made by a BB gun, but police said the hole in the wall was too large to have been caused by a BB gun.

Three days later, on Tuesday, June 4, police responded to a report of theft and child neglect at Jefferson Trailer Park.

Moran had left the baby with her current boyfriend, who is also not the baby’s father, at a trailer on Monday, June 3. The trailer is the residence of the sister of Moran’s current boyfriend. The sister told police she had refused to let her brother and Moran stay overnight because she knew their past history of drug use. She returned home from work later that day and found that they had entered her trailer through an unlocked door and that Moran had left the baby with her boyfriend there.

The trailer was cluttered and dirty and scattered with beer bottles. The resident told police that Moran had also stolen various items from the trailer. Moran had left diapers, food and clothing at the trailer for the baby, but had not spoken with any of the unrelated adults about care for the child.

Moran has a 2014 child neglect conviction in McLean County for smoking marijuana with her then 12-year-old daughter and giving the girl some of her own anti-anxiety medication, Klonopin. Following that charge, Moran was given a one-year sentence, all suspended, and three years of supervised probation. The C felony was deemed a Class A misdemeanor after she successfully completed probation.