Florida Mother Arrested After Leaving Four Children Home Alone During Trip to Las Vegas

A Florida mother has been arrested and charged with child neglect after authorities said she left her four children home alone for nearly three days while she was in Las Vegas. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office announced the case on Monday.

The woman, Irene Miller, 50, came to the attention of deputies on Oct. 21, when a dispatcher received a 911 call from one of the children at the family's home in Kissimmee. The caller reported that her 9-year-old brother had been hurt when a dumbbell fell on his head, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies who responded to the home found four children, ages 14, 12, 11 and 9, with no adult present. Paramedics took the injured boy to a nearby hospital. His injury turned out to be an apparently minor one.

While the boy was being treated, deputies reached Miller by telephone. The sheriff's statement said she told them she was working in Las Vegas and planned to return on Oct. 23, 2026. Deputies learned she had left for Las Vegas on Oct. 18.

Miller told investigators that a babysitter traveled from Tampa each morning to help get the children ready for school and returned to check on them after school. Kissimmee is near Orlando, about 70 miles east of Tampa. According to the statement, Miller also said she did not insist that the babysitter stay overnight at the house.

The children were taken to their father's home. Sheriff's detectives, meanwhile, were sent to meet Miller as she got off her flight from Las Vegas on Friday morning, the statement said.

Miller was charged with four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and booked into the Orange County Jail. A search of jail records on Monday showed she was no longer in custody. NBC News said it could not immediately reach her for comment.

Sheriff Chris Blackmon said his office takes such cases seriously. "The Osceola County Sheriff's Office will not tolerate child neglect," he said. "These cases will be investigated, and charges will be brought against the parents who are not properly supervising or caring for their children."