Florida mother arrested after leaving 4 children home alone during day trip to Vegas

A Florida mother was arrested and charged with child neglect after leaving her four children home alone for nearly three days while in Las Vegas, the local sheriff reported Monday.

Irene Miller was arrested after a dispatcher received a 911 call Oct. 21 from one of the children in the Kissimmee home who reported “that her 9-year-old brother had been injured by a dumbbell that fell on his head,” the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

When police arrived at the residence, they found four children aged 14, 12, 11 and 9 – and no adult was watching over them.

While paramedics took the injured boy to a nearby hospital for treatment of what turned out to be an apparently minor injury, deputies tracked Miller down by phone.

“She told the deputy that she was working in Las Vegas and would be returning on October 23, 2026,” the sheriff’s statement said. “Deputies learned that Ms. Miller left for Las Vegas on October 18, 2026.”

Miller, according to the release, told deputies she had a babysitter coming from Tampa in the morning to get the children ready for school and watch them after school.

Kissimmee is located near Orlando and about 70 miles east of Tampa.

Miller also said she did not insist that the babysitter spend the night at the home with the children, the statement said.

While the children were taken to their father’s home, sheriff’s detectives were dispatched “to meet Irene Miller as she was leaving her flight from Las Vegas Friday morning,” the release said.

Miller, 50, was charged with four counts of child neglect without serious bodily injury and booked into the Orange County Jail. On Monday, a search of jail records showed she was no longer behind bars.

Miller could not immediately be contacted by NBC News.

“The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office will not tolerate child neglect,” said Sheriff Chris Blackmon. “These cases will be investigated and charges brought against parents who fail to properly supervise or care for their children. »