CCTV:CHARLESTON, W.VA.-- St. Albans Police have released the surveillance video of a mom trying to rob a video lottery parlor clerk. You can see her put the gun to the clerks head. You cannot see her 2 children.

Melissa Spencer has admitted it wasn't a smart move to take her two children along for the heist Tuesday night. Now, she's in jail and the kids are with their fathers family.

"I wasn't thinking clearly, I was drinking. My son kept going on about a transformer- he's crazy about them," Spencer said in an interview Wednesday.

Spencer says she is on welfare and suffers from bipolar disorder. The condition is so serious she cannot work. Neighbors told WSAZ.com she was a dedicated mom who spent every minute of the day with her children. So much so Spencer says, she'd reached her breaking point.

"I couldn't do it no more. I had to do something for my kids it was stupid for me to do- taking them with me, but I didn't know what."

Spencer says she didn't discuss the robbery with her children she just took them along. She believes her 7 year old son knows what was going on. Her daughter is two.