A Carbon County jury panel deliberated for less than 30 minutes on Tuesday afternoon before finding a Penn Forest Township woman guilty of endangering the welfare of her child in a one-day trial.

Melissa A. Overby, 33, of the Bear Creek Lakes development, was charged by state police at Lehighton for leaving her then 6-year-old son home alone, for an extended period of time, on June 30, 2013.Overby claimed the child was left in a safe environment and was in no danger. However, she did admit to troopers at the time of the incident that it was poor judgment on her part to leave the child alone. She also said it was the first and only time she ever left him alone in the residence.Neighbor hears childLarry Casertano, who lives in a home next to Overby, testified at 1:15 p.m. on that date he was sitting on his back deck when he heard a child crying. He went to investigate at the Overby home and found the young boy on the front porch. He also said he heard the home's burglary alarm sounding.He said the boy was crying "frantically" and was yelling for his mother. He said while he was trying to find out if anyone was home the phone rang and the boy ran inside and answered it.He said it was Overby. After the boy spoke to her, he ran upstairs to a bedroom, and then came out and told Casertano he had to leave.Casertano said he didn't feel it was safe to leave the boy alone so he called the development security personnel.Diane Lamorea, of the security firm, arrived and attempted to calm the boy down and asked if he had a phone number to call his mother. She said he didn't know. Lamorea then said she decided to call state police.Trooper Michael Gesualdo arrived and said he spoke with Lamorea and Casertano. He said he and the others searched the home and eventually found a phone number.He called the number and Overby answered. He said he was told by Overby she was on Interstate 78 and en route to Ringoes, New Jersey, to pick up a computer she needed. Gesualdo said there was a second call some time later to Overby at which point he told her he was taking her son to the barracks and she should come there when she got back.Trooper Nicolas A. De La Iglesia said he was at the barracks when the child arrived and tried to comfort him. He said Overby arrived at the barracks about 3:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after the initial contact with her by Gesualdo.Overby told him she had to go to New Jersey to get a computer she needed for a job she was seeking. She said she needed the computer to complete work on the job application.De La Iglesia said Overby admitted leaving the child alone was probably not the right thing to do. He said he told Overby that the situation was a bad one because if something had happened to her while away, the boy would have been left alone for a much longer time period.He said she then agreed to make a written statement. She said she wanted to do it at home, left the barracks, but later returned with the statement, which De La Iglesia read to the jury.Gets carsickOverby testified that she was in the process of moving from New Jersey to Penn Forest because her home in New Jersey was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.She said she had made repeated trips between Penn Forest and Ringoes in the moving process.She said her son had gotten carsick and that was the main reason she decided to leave him at home while she went for the computer. She estimated it took her about an hour and 15 minutes to drive to her New Jersey home.Overby said she had no family or friends in the area to leave her son with. She said she had only been at the Penn Forest home for about three days when the incident occurred.She also said her son was "mature for his age" and she said she had gone over with him things he shouldn't do while she was away. She also said she left him with plenty of food, movies to watch on a big-screen television and told him to stay in his room.She added, "If the alarm had not gone off I wouldn't be here."She also said she had phone records to show she made at least 40 calls toher son while making the trip to New Jersey and back.She said when Gesualdo called her a second time to tell her he was taking her son to the barracks, she asked him to wait, claiming she was only a few minutes from her home.Assistant District Attorney Seth Miller represented the commonwealth at the trial. Attorney Robert S. Frycklund was Overby's court appointed defense counsel.Judge Steven R. Serfass, who presided, continued Overby on her unsecured bail and deferred sentencing. He ordered the adult probation to prepare a presentence investigation report for sentencing purposes.