Florida Mom Arrested After Leaving Children Home Alone for Days, Traveling to Las Vegas
The mother faces four counts of child neglect following a report about one of her children being injured.
A Florida mother was arrested at Orlando International Airport after allegedly leaving her four children unsupervised for several days while she traveled to Las Vegas. Irene Miller, 50, was taken into custody by the Osceola County Sheriff's Office upon her return.
Deputies responded to the family's Kissimmee apartment on Wednesday evening after receiving a call from a juvenile reporting that their nine-year-old brother had been struck in the head by a falling dumbbell. Upon arrival, deputies found four children, aged nine, 11, 12, and 14, without adult supervision.
Emergency medical services transported the nine-year-old to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. He was later discharged. Investigators contacted Miller by phone and learned she was in Las Vegas for what she described as a business trip. She stated she planned to return on Friday.
Miller informed deputies that a babysitter traveled from Tampa daily to prepare the children for school and check on them in the afternoon, but did not stay overnight. Authorities later determined Miller had departed for Las Vegas on October 18, five days before her scheduled return.
Following the conversation with Miller, deputies contacted the children's father, who took custody of all four children. When Miller landed at Orlando International Airport on Friday, she was met by deputies and arrested.
Sheriff Chris Blackmon stated, "The Osceola County Sheriff's Office will not tolerate child neglect. These cases will be investigated and charges will be brought against the parents who are not properly supervising or caring for their children."
Miller was charged with four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and booked into the Orange County Jail. Information regarding legal representation for Miller was not immediately available.