ST. MARTINVILLE - Deputies in St. Martin Parish have arrested a mom who left her two small children in a truck stop casino parking lot while she played a video poker machine inside, officials said.

The sheriff's office says Tara Jackson, 37, was arrested Tuesday after deputies found her children, ages 1 and 5, outside the truck stop on the Evangeline Thruway.

Authorities found Jackson playing video poker inside the casino, apparently leaving her children in the running car for about an hour and a half.

Jackson was arrested on two counts of child desertion and booked into the parish jail. Her two children were placed in the custody of a guardian.