Neglect Or Overreach? Mom Arrested After Leaving Kids Home During Work Trip

A Florida mother was brought into custody as she stepped off a flight from Las Vegas after police said they discovered her four children home alone during her work trip.

Authorities say Irene Miller, 50, left her children — ages 9, 11, 12, and 14 — at their home in Kissimmee without adult supervision during the trip scheduled for five days. Miller was arrested last Friday on four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and booked into the Orange County Jail.

Miller, a professional photographer, can be seen in bodycam footage as she exits the plane and is escorted through the terminal and handcuffed.

Bodycam footage shows Florida deputies arresting a mother at an airport after authorities say she left her four children, ages 9, 11, 12 and 14, home alone while traveling to Las Vegas for work.

Irene Miller, 50, was taken into custody Friday as she stepped off a plane. Two days earlier, one of her children had called 911 after a dumbbell fell on her 9-year-old brother’s head.

When deputies arrived at the family’s Kissimmee home, they found the children without adult supervision and had the injured boy taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Miller now faces four counts of child neglect.

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 27, 2026

On October 21, one of the children called 911 after a dumbbell fell on the 9-year-old’s head. When deputies arrived, they found the four kids home alone. The boy was taken by Fire Rescue to Celebration Hospital, where he was treated and discharged.

An officer contacted Miller, who said she would be returning October 23. Miller told police a babysitter from Tampa was scheduled to help the kids in the mornings before school and check on them after, but was not required to spend the night. Police learned that she left for Vegas on October 18.

Authorities got in touch with the children’s father, who agreed to take them while deputies arranged to meet Miller at the airport.

“The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office will not tolerate child neglect,” Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said. “These cases will be investigated, and charges will be brought against the parents who are not properly supervising or caring for their children.”