A selfish Ohio mother faces jail time for leaving her special needs twin daughters in the care of her 10-year-old daughter while she flew to Florida for her friend’s liposuction surgery.
Dominique Knowles, 32, is accused of leaving her three children home alone without a phone while she was away for nearly three days.
Police say Knowles used a laptop to monitor them via FaceTime and occasionally monitored their activity via security cameras. One night, they ate food they ordered through Uber Eats and left outside the door.
Prosecutor Michael Maloney says the mother’s daughters made it clear she was “not really checking in” while traveling with a friend.
“Remote work is one thing, remote mom is another,” she said.
Domonique Knowles was arrested for child endangerment after leaving her 10-year-old daughter in the care of twin sisters with special needs for nearly three days.
The agents went to the welfare checkpoint and found the girls alone in the “dirty” apartment that had liquid spilled on the floor.
Knowles was found guilty of child endangerment earlier this month. She told officers on the body camera footage: “My kids are allowed to be here alone.”
“Not when you have two children with special needs,” the arresting officer responded.
Her 10-year-old daughter was left to care for her 7-year-old twin sisters who have special needs, while Knowles took her 8-month-old son on the trip.
It was the 10-year-old’s teacher who asked police to conduct a welfare check on the children after a concerning conversation with the boy.
In a phone call to police, the teacher said: ‘(The 10-year-old girl) informed her teacher that she spoke to mom on camera last night and that mom ordered Uber Eats for them and left it at the door. .’
The agents found the apartment dirty, with liquid spilled all over the floor and while they were reporting the situation one of the twins slipped and fell.
The 10-year-old’s teacher requested a welfare check for the children after a conversation with the student revealed that his mother was out of town.
Maloney said Knowles never told the children’s grandmother that he was leaving them and going out of state.
he said cleveland 19: ‘It was worse. Mom lied to her mother. There were adults available to help.”
Knowles also initially denied leaving the state, until police proved he had spent two nights in Miami.
“She lied,” Maloney said. “The detective figured it out quickly, they showed her leaving Hopkins Airport on the night in question and timed the calls showing her mother at a Miami airport at approximately two hours.”
Maloney noted that the time period is approximately the time it takes to fly from Cleveland to Miami.
Prosecutor Michael Maloney revealed that Knowles’ mother was available to look after the children, but Knowles lied to her and did not tell her she would leave the children alone.
“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,” he added.
Maloney also explained that the patio door was open when officers arrived. He said, “All the teachers and counselors at the school said there’s no doubt these girls would have walked away if they had the chance.”
And he added: “I don’t want to explain the things that could have happened then, a kidnapping, leaving behind a car.”
Knowles will be sentenced Wednesday and could face up to six months in prison.
