Florida mother charged with neglect after leaving four children alone for Las Vegas trip

Four children found alone

Officers from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office were sent to a household accident in Kissimmee, Florida, and on 21 October found four children, aged 9 to 14, alone in a house. Their mother had left for Las Vegas, Nevada, for work, and the children had been without an adult since 18 October. Reports describe the absence as a five-day business trip. One of the children called 911 after a dumbbell fell on the head of the 9-year-old boy, who was taken to hospital with a minor injury and has since been discharged. No adult was at the address when police arrived. The children were then placed with their father, who said they were staying with him in a hotel and who started an online fundraiser to cover their needs.

What the mother told investigators

The mother told officers she had hired a babysitter to help the children get ready for school in the morning and to check on them after classes. She admitted the children were left alone at night, and according to NBC News she did not ask the babysitter to stay overnight. When an officer reached her by phone in Las Vegas, she said she was thousands of kilometres away and could not return before 23 October. A sheriff's office representative, Kim Montes, later said she had been evasive on that call, that she told the officer she was working, and that she hung up on the officer. Montes also described her calling her 14-year-old son afterward and reprimanding him for calling 911 while he was with a deputy.

Arrest and bond

The mother flew back to Florida on Friday, 23 October, and was arrested at the airport when she stepped off the plane. Deputies charged her with four counts of child neglect without serious bodily injury, and she was booked into a county jail. The sheriff's office released body-cam footage showing her pulling a suitcase through an airport tunnel, escorted by at least four officers. She posted bond on Saturday, 24 October, according to a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. By then the boy had left hospital and the children were with their father, and the authorities were still continuing their inquiry. No verdict has been reached, and her divorce lawyer and her husband's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

Divorce and the father's case

The New York Times reported that the father did not live with the children at their home in Kissimmee. The New York Post reported that the mother filed for divorce on 17 September, seeking to end a 15-year marriage. About a month before that filing, the children's father, who is 53, had been charged with violence against her, and a court ordered him to stay at least 500 feet, about 152 metres, away from her. He pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial, according to the same report. The court was to decide visitation with the four children at a later hearing.