Aman and woman face felony child abuse charges for allegedly leaving five children, ages 4 months to 7, in a hot vehicle.

James Yellow Wolf, 38, and Anita Three Irons, 28, each were charged Monday with five counts of Class C felony child abuse and neglect.

Bismarck Police Sgt. Dwight Offerman said officers were called to Wal-Mart, 2717 Rock Island Place, at 1:44 p.m. Friday for a report of children left in a vehicle. Employees of the store had watched the pickup for about 20 minutes before calling police, Offerman said.

He said responding officers reported the temperature while they were at the scene ranged from 89 to 91 degrees, though the temperature in the pickup was at least 100 degrees.

Friday's high temperature, according to the National Weather Service, was 93 degrees.

The youngest child in the pickup, a 4-month-old girl, was sweating profusely, Offerman said. The other children in the vehicle were a 7-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl, a 2-year-old girl and a 1-year-old girl. He said an officer was on the scene for 15 minutes before the children's mother, Three Irons, returned.

Burleigh County Social Services took custody of the children, Offerman said. He said officers located Yellow Wolf later. Yellow Wolf was identified as the father of the children in police reports, but Three Irons told South Central District Judge Bruce Haskell that Yellow Wolf should not be held responsible because he is not their father.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Julie Lawyer said charges against Yellow Wolf allege he was the parent or custodian of the children.

The police report also said Yellow Wolf, Three Irons and the children were homeless and from Minnesota, though the report listed a post office box address for Three Irons, Offerman said. Lawyer said Three Irons told police they had been camping in Bismarck and were homeless.

Yellow Wolf told Haskell he has been living in the Bismarck area for several months and originally is from Fort Berthold. Three Irons told the judge she has lived in Bismarck on and off most of her life. She gave an address in south Bismarck where both she and Yellow Wolf would be able to stay.

Haskell set bond for Yellow Wolf at $3,500 cash based on his lack of ties to the community and his criminal history. Haskell set bond for Three Irons at $2,500 cash due to her mixed-up stories about where she lives.

Haskell prohibited Yellow Wolf and Three Irons from having contact with the children unless authorized by social services. Three Irons claimed a woman from social services already had told her she could pick them up when she got out of jail and her mother had the children. Haskell said she'd have to get it in writing.

Kathy Wilson Mayer, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, urges people not to leave children in vehicles, even when temperatures seem moderate.

"The inside of a car heats up very rapidly, even on a reasonably cool day," she said.

Young children, especially, can get dehydrated quickly in a car even if the temperature is in the 50s or 60s, she said.

Temperature aside, vehicles are not safe places to leave small children, Mayer said. They may play with dials, shift gears, start the car, or get out doors and windows and wander off, she said. Children could put something in their mouths and choke without anyone there to help them, she said.

Children left alone in vehicles also are at risk of being abducted, she said.

"Those things can happen very, very quickly," Mayer said.

Generally, experts recommend that children younger than 10 not be left unsupervised and children 10 to 12 be left unsupervised only for short periods of time.

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