BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — An Iowa woman is accused of leaving her two young nieces at a hotel in the Twin Cities area while she and a male friend went to a strip club and then a casino.

Authorities say hotel staff found the girls, ages 6 and 1, wandering around the Bloomington hotel around midnight last Friday. Police were called to find the couple who had checked in the children. Officers say they found their room littered with dirty diapers and open bottles of alcohol.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press says the children were taken to an emergency child care center. Their aunt, 18-year-old Alexah Mauskemo, and her 39-year-old companion, Douglas Cadotte, were arrested when they returned to the hotel about 7 a.m.

Mauskemo, of Montour, Iowa, is charged with child neglect. Cadotte, of Tama, Iowa, is charged with felony drug possession.

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