A Florida mom allegedly leaves four children home alone for days on a Las Vegas trip, then a falling dumbbell brings deputies to the apartment

A mother in Kissimmee, Florida, was arrested at Orlando International Airport after deputies alleged she left her four children by themselves while she was in Las Vegas for work. Irene Miller, 50, was met by deputies from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office when her flight arrived on Oct. 23. She faces four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.

According to Daily Mail, the sheriff’s office received a call at about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21. A girl reported that a dumbbell had fallen on the head of her brother, who is nine, in the family’s apartment on Parkway Boulevard, west of Celebration. Deputies arrived and found the children, who are 9, 11, 12 and 14 years old, with no adult present.

Fire rescue crews took the boy to Celebration Hospital, where he received treatment and went home. No other injuries were reported. Deputies reached Miller by phone, and she allegedly stated that she was in Las Vegas for work and expected to return on Oct. 23. Investigators learned she had left on Oct. 18, about three days before the call, with a return flight set for Oct. 23.

Babysitter did not stay overnight, mother tells deputies

Sheriff’s office Capt. Kim Montes provided the details about the phone call and the babysitter. Deputies stated that Miller told them a babysitter came up from Tampa every morning to help the children prepare for school and checked in on them after classes. Miller did not ask the sitter to stay overnight, according to deputies. The visits were limited to the morning and afternoon.

Deputies called the children’s father, and he brought the kids to his own house. Reports did not name the father or the babysitter. Body camera video released by the sheriff’s office shows deputies meeting Miller at the boarding bridge and walking her, in handcuffs, through the airport to a waiting patrol car. She was then booked into Orange County Jail.

Sheriff Chris Blackmon stated, “The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office will not tolerate child neglect.” He added that “charges will be brought against the parents who are not properly supervising” their children. Florida classifies child neglect that does not cause great bodily harm as a third-degree felony. The statute describes neglect as a caregiver willfully failing to provide the supervision and services a child needs.

The same law says that reasonable independent activities, such as walking to school, are not neglect unless the conduct is willful and wanton and endangers the child. Reports did not state a bond amount, a court date or any other charges. The charges are allegations, and Miller is presumed innocent unless she is proven guilty in court. Reports did not say whether she has a lawyer.

Questions about a parent’s duty to keep children safe have also come up in Virginia, where a boy told police where gun came from.