DEAL MADE IN TRUNK CASE.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

A Gardena woman who allowed two youngsters to ride in the trunk of her car faces sentencing Jan. 11 after pleading no contest to child endangerment, a prosecutor said.

Laverne Renee Dunlap, 35, entered the plea Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court. The plea agreement calls for her to receive three years' probation and one year in jail, Deputy District Attorney Carolyn McNary said.

Dunlap had seven children in her compact car when she was stopped on the Antelope Valley Freeway around 8 p.m. May 20 in Santa Clarita, police said. Officers found a boy, 15, and a girl, 10, in the trunk, authorities said.

Another driver reported seeing Dunlap's car earlier at the side of the San Diego Freeway near the National Boulevard off-ramp, authorities said. The motorist told the California Highway Patrol that children were inside the trunk and that the lid was being closed by a woman.

Dunlap said shortly after her arrest that she did not have enough room in her car for all her passengers and that she ``wasn't thinking,'' authorities said.