A 29-year-old mother from Houston has been arrested for allegedly leaving her two young children unattended while she went on a Caribbean cruise. Lakesha Woods Williams is now facing charges of child abandonment with intent to return.
Young children left alone for five days
The children, a boy and girl aged 8 and 6, were found five days later by police, but only after a concerned neighbor requested a welfare check.
Neighbors had seen Williams leave with luggage and didn’t see her return to the high-rise apartment building in the Memorial neighborhood.
Williams flew to Miami last week to board a cruise ship to Puerto Rico. After the children were discovered alone in the apartment, she became “uncooperative” when contacted by law enforcement.
The criminal complaint states, “The apartment was in complete disarray and had trash and left-over food all over.” The children, determined to be in good health, were taken in by Child Protective Services and later released to their aunt.
Investigators say the mother had set up a webcam to view the children inside the apartment, and the older child had a cell phone to text.
“These children were left unattended for many days and put in harm’s way,” said Keegan Childers, chief prosecutor of the local District Court handling the case. “For them to provide for themselves, feed themselves, there are any number of nightmare scenarios that could come up,” Keegan added.
The mother remains in custody
Police said it appeared no other adult had been in the apartment since Williams left on the cruise vacation. The criminal complaint also suggested the children had been left home alone before. It didn’t disclose which cruise line Williams was sailing with.
On Friday, she attended a first court appearance and remains in custody with a $25,000 bond.
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