Woman pleads guilty to walking off with stranger’s kids

A St. Joseph woman charged in an incident where she took two children from a stroller and walked away with them pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree harassment on Thursday.

Deann Cluck, 51, entered the guilty plea in front of Circuit Court Judge Daniel Kellogg. She is set to be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Cluck initially was charged with kidnapping in the Sept. 27 incident in which she walked up to a stroller in the parking lot of a local business, unbuckled the two children and began walking off with them, according to a probable cause statement filed in the case. The mother of the children, who did not know Cluck, had to wrestle them away, court documents said.

Cluck was released on bond and ordered to go to a treatment facility.