An Ohio mother left her two special needs daughters with her 10-year-old sister while she went on a three-day trip to Miami to visit a friend who was having liposuction surgery.
Domonique Knowles, 32, was charged Wednesday with child endangerment for leaving her children home alone without a phone, occasionally checking in online and having food delivered through Uber Eats. He was found guilty and faces the possibility of prison time. WAGM-TV reported.
“The mother wasn't really checking in,” said prosecuting attorney Michael Maloney.
“Remote work is another thing. Remote mom is another thing.”
A mother took her 8-month-old son to Florida, but left behind her 7-year-old special-needs daughters, who had to be looked after by her 10-year-old sister, and kept her patio door locked the whole time. It wasn't. .
Ms Maloney said it could have been “much worse” and that Ms Knowles had “lied” to her own mother, who could have taken care of her grandson. “There was an adult there to help.”
Officials said the mother lived about 1,200 miles from her home in Westlake, but only occasionally checked on her children when they were home alone through her laptop or home security camera.
A fourth-grade teacher raises the alarm after a 10-year-old student says she “talked to her mom on camera last night” and that her mom called Uber Eats and left it on her doorstep. did.
When officers arrived, the apartment was dirty with liquid spilled all over the floor, police said. While officers were at the scene, one of the twin girls slipped and fell.
Knowles initially denied leaving Ohio State. However, authorities were able to prove that she was in Miami.
“She lied,” Maloney said. “They timed a phone call showing her leaving Hopkins Airport on the evening in question and showing her mother arriving at an airport in Miami over an approximately two-hour time frame. Of course, this “It's about the same flight time from Cleveland to Miami, and it indicates when her mother will arrive.” When faced with that, she changes her story and says she has to be in Miami because her friend needed liposuction surgery. He said something like this. ”
“My children are allowed to be here by themselves,” Knowles told police when he was arrested.
The arresting officer replied, “It's different when you have two children with special needs.''
Officials also said the home's patio door was left open the entire time the children were left alone.
“Every teacher and counselor at the school said there was no question that these girls would have walked away if they had the chance. I don’t want to explain kidnapping, walking out from behind a car,” Maloney said. Said.
Knowles was found guilty of child endangerment earlier this month. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday and could face up to six months in prison.
