An Ohio mom left her two special needs daughters in the care of their 10-year-old sister while she went on a three-day trip to Miami to visit a friend getting liposuction surgery.
Domonique Knowles, 32, faces possible jail time Wednesday after being found guilty of child endangerment for leaving them home alone without a phone, while only occasionally checking in on them online — and getting their food delivered by Uber Eats, WAGM-TV reported.
“Mom wasn’t really checking in,” prosecuting attorney Michael Maloney said.
“Remote work is one thing; remote mom is another.”
The mom took her 8-month-old son with her to Florida, but left behind her 7-year-old daughters who have special needs to be cared for by their 10-year-old sister — with a patio door unlocked the whole time.
“It was worse,” Maloney said — saying that Knowles “lied” to her own mother, who could have cared for her grandkids. “There were adults that were available to help out.”
While around 1,200 miles away from their home in Westlake, the mom only occasionally checked in on her home-alone kids on her laptop and through her home security cameras, officials said.
The alarm was raised by the 10-year-old’s fourth-grade teacher after the student told her “she talked to mom on the camera last night” and that her mom had called Uber Eats and left it at the door.
When officers arrived, the apartment was filthy with liquid spilled all over the floor, police said. While officers were there, one of the twin girls slipped and fell.
Knowles initially denied leaving Ohio. However, authorities were able to prove she was in Miami.
“She lied,” Maloney said. “They showed her leaving Hopkins airport on the evening in question, timed the calls showing mom at an airport in Miami in about a two-hour time frame, which, of course, is about the flight time from Cleveland to Miami, and when mom was confronted with that, she changed her story and said something about having to be in Miami because her friend needed liposuction surgery.”
When arrested, Knowles told cops: “My kids are allowed to be here by themselves.”
The arresting officer responded: “Not when you have two special needs kids.”
Officials also said a patio door was unlocked in the home the entire time the children were left alone.
“Every teacher and counselor at the school said there is no question these girls would have wandered off given the chance, and I don’t want to explain the things that could have happened then – a kidnapping, walking out behind a car,” Maloney said.
Knowles was found guilty of child endangerment earlier this month. She is set to be sentenced on Wednesday, and could face up to six months in prison.
