Florida mother arrested after Las Vegas work trip left four children without overnight supervision
In Florida, deputies arrested a mother named Irene Miller as she stepped off a plane returning from Las Vegas. According to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, she had left her four children home alone while she travelled to Las Vegas for work.
Irene Miller, 50, was arrested on 23 October on four counts of child neglect, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. Body camera video shows deputies approaching her on Friday morning after she exited the flight from Las Vegas, escorting her through the airport terminal and placing her in handcuffs.
The arrest came two days after one of Miller's children called 911 to report that a dumbbell had fallen on her 9-year-old brother's head, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies responded to the Kissimmee home shortly after 8:30 p.m. on 21 October and found four children, ages 9, 11, 12 and 14, with no adults present, the sheriff's office said. Fire rescue crews took the injured boy to Celebration Hospital, where he was treated and discharged.
A deputy reached Miller by phone, and she said she was working in Las Vegas and planned to return on 23 October, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies learned she had left Florida on 18 October.
Miller told deputies she had arranged for a babysitter to travel from Tampa in the mornings to help the children get ready for school and check on them afterward. The sitter was not required to stay overnight, the sheriff's office said.
Authorities contacted the children's father, who agreed to take all four to his home, while detectives made plans to meet Miller when her flight landed.
Miller was arrested on four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and booked into the Orange County Jail.
Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said his office will not tolerate child neglect, that such cases will be investigated, and that charges will be brought against parents who do not properly supervise or care for their children.
