A mother was arrested for leaving four young children locked in a car for more than half an hour Thursday morning, according to a Covington Police Department report.

 Catina Nooks was charged with four counts of cruelty to children.

 The children, a 5-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and two 14-month-old girls, were described as all crying hysterically, except for the 5-year-old, according to the report. The toddlers were buckled into a car seat while the 3-year-old and 5-year-old were moving around in the car.

 The CPD officer was patrolling the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Industrial Boulevard when he was approached by two concerned adults about a car with four children inside.

 The concerned adults told the officer the children had been unattended for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The manager of the Wal-Mart reportedly paged the mother with the car's description and tag number over the store's intercom for half an hour with no response.

 Nooks arrived about six minutes after the officer arrived and said that she had put the children in the car after shopping at Wal-Mart. She told the officer she went inside to make a return on a prescription drug she bought and left the children in the car because she didn't want to wake the babies, who were sleeping.

 The Department of Family and Children's Services was called to the scene, and the children were released to Nooks' mother-in-law. Nooks was taken to the Newton County Detention Center.