A Fort Yates woman who was found huffing air duster with a 15-year-old girl has received a suspended sentence for child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Kathryn Redday, 26, pleaded guilty to the charges on Aug. 18.

South Central DistrictJudge Sonna Anderson on Wednesday sentenced Redday to suspended sentences of one year for each charge. Because of the sentence handed down in the child abuse case, the offense will be deemed a misdemeanor on Redday's record rather than a felony. She will be on supervised probation for three years for child abuse and two years for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Authorities said an officer found Redday and a 15-year-old South Dakota girl in a vehicle in a Bismarck park in July, high from huffing air duster while Redday's two children, ages 1 and 3, were left to themselves. Officers said they found 24 cans of the air duster.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Lloyd Suhr argued for a suspended sentence but wanted it to be a longer sentence so the offense would be a felony on Redday's record. He said her conduct was "reprehensible" and deserving of a felony disposition, because her children were unsupervised while she was high and were found with "full diapers."

However, he did not want her to do prison time due to a minimal criminal history and preferred that she have opportunities to deal with chemical dependency and parenting issues.

"She's obviously got a chemical dependency issue that needs to be addressed," Suhr said.

Redday earlier pleaded guilty in Municipal Court to a charge of inhaling vapors and spent five days in jail for that.

Steve Balaban, Redday's appointed defense attorney, asked for a deferred imposition of sentence, which means an offense is taken off a person's record if the person successfully completes probation. He said Redday's husband died of heart failure in February. Prior to that, she was going to school, working, raising two children and had "everything going for her," Balaban said.

When her husband died, she had trouble coping, he said.

"This was a response to everything that was going on in her life," he said.

She's getting her life back on track and going back to school, Balaban said.

"I think she's going to be fine," he said.

Anderson said she could not give Redday a deferred imposition of sentence due to the nature of the charges against her, and she said she was "reluctant" to give her the misdemeanor disposition.

"We're lucky those children are alive," the judge said.

Redday also must pay $575 in court fees. She is prohibited from having aerosol containers and anything else that can be huffed while on probation.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)