Florida Mother Booked on Four Neglect Counts After Children Found Alone for Five Days
Deputies say a Kissimmee mother of four was arrested at an airport after her children were left without adult supervision while she traveled for work.
By Stella Brooks ·
A Florida mother faces four felony counts of child neglect after deputies found four children, ages 9, 11, 12 and 14, alone at their Kissimmee home while she traveled to Las Vegas for work. Irene Miller, 50, was taken into custody Friday morning as she exited a plane at the airport, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said.
Deputies first responded to the home shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 after a 911 call from one of the children reported that a dumbbell had fallen on the 9-year-old boy's head. Fire rescue crews transported the boy to Celebration Hospital, where he was treated and released.
A deputy reached Miller by phone, and she said she was working in Las Vegas and planned to return Oct. 23. Investigators determined she left Florida on Oct. 18. Miller told deputies she had arranged for a babysitter to come from Tampa each morning to help the children get ready for school and check on them afterward, but the sitter was not required to stay overnight, according to the sheriff's office.
The children's father agreed to take all four to his home while detectives planned to meet Miller when her flight landed. She was booked into the Orange County Jail on four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. "The Osceola County Sheriff's Office will not tolerate child neglect," Sheriff Chris Blackmon said. "These cases will be investigated, and charges will be brought against the parents who are not properly supervising or caring for their children."
Miller remained in the Orange County Jail as of Monday.
