NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY)– A Fort Eustis woman has entered a guilty plea to multiple charges after neglecting her children and assaulting her husband.
Rachel Lorane Pendergrast, 30, pled guilty to assault, driving under the influence of alcohol, and felony child neglect. Pendergrast lived in military housing on Fort Eustis with her husband and three minor children.
According to court documents, on December 3, 2025, Pendergrast’s oldest child was at daycare and the two younger children were home when she began drinking alcohol in the morning. When Pendergrast left her home to go pick up the oldest child, she took her one-year-old with her and left her three-year-old at home, unattended. A neighbor reported to authorities that the three-year-old was standing at the edge of the roadway near the home, crying, and attempting to cross the street in 48 degree weather wearing only a diaper and a t-shirt…