00:00She actually hung up on the deputy.
00:02Almost immediately after that phone call,
00:04she phoned her 14-year-old son,
00:06who was standing right there with the police deputy,
00:08and said, quote,
00:09you're going to get me in trouble.
00:11A Florida mom left her four kids home alone
00:14for nearly a week to go to Las Vegas,
00:16getting found out when the youngest was hit in the head
00:19by a falling dumbbell, according to authorities.
00:21The shocking allegations against Irene Miller
00:24were revealed by authorities who shared video
00:26of the 50-year-old mom being cuffed
00:28just as her plane touched down
00:30at a Florida airport on October 23rd.
00:33Miller, a Russian-born photographer,
00:35had left for a work trip across the country
00:37the previous Sunday
00:38and planned to return home five days later.
00:41She was slapped with child neglect charges
00:43after a 911 call made by one of the kids
00:45from their home in Kissimmee,
00:47the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said.
00:49Cops arrived and found four children
00:51aged 9, 11, 12, and 14,
00:54with no adult supervision at the time.
00:56The case has since sparked a fierce debate
00:59about parenthood online
01:00and at what age children can be reasonably allowed
01:03to look after themselves.
01:04On the one hand, supporters are saying
01:06that they themselves were left at home
01:08around the same ages as Irene Miller's four children.
01:12They say that at 14,
01:13a child can be considered mature enough
01:16to not only be by themselves,
01:18but take care of their younger siblings.
01:20However, on the other hand, people are outraged.
01:22Some say that she should be behind bars
01:25for the maximum sentence of 20 years
01:27that these child endangerment charges
01:29carry in the state of Florida.
01:31Though Florida law doesn't specify
01:32at what age children are allowed to be left alone,
01:36federal guidelines say that children 12 and under
01:39should not be left alone at all,
01:41and kids 15 or younger should not be left
01:44with their siblings to take care of them.
01:46The mom in this case told cops
01:48that she had hired a babysitter.
01:49That babysitter came before school in the mornings,
01:52and then in the afternoon after school
01:54to check on the kids.
01:55So they were really left alone
01:57from around 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. every single night
02:00for three nights in a row.
02:02Police called Miller on October 21st,
02:04explaining that her nine-year-old son
02:06had been rushed to the hospital
02:07with a head laceration.
02:09But Miller allegedly told officers
02:11she couldn't come home,
02:12a captain told the Daily Mail.
02:14And the optics for the mom
02:15are beginning to look even worse
02:17after authorities exclusively revealed
02:19to the Post what happened next.
02:20The cops told me that when they arrived
02:23at the Kissimmee house
02:24where the kids were left,
02:26they called Irene Miller to tell her
02:28about the nine-year-old son's head injury,
02:30and she actually hung up
02:32on the deputy who made that call.
02:35Almost immediately after that phone call,
02:37she phoned her 14-year-old son,
02:39who was standing right there
02:40with the police deputy,
02:41and she began scolding him
02:43for calling 911
02:44and said, quote,
02:45you're going to get me in trouble.
02:47After the children were found,
02:49authorities contacted
02:50the children's father, Mark,
02:51and the kids were placed in his care.
02:53But her husband's record
02:54isn't exactly squeaky clean either.
02:57Mark Miller was charged
02:58with criminal battery
02:59against his wife, Irene,
03:00earlier this year,
03:01which he denies,
03:02and the pair are in the process
03:03of getting a divorce.
03:05Irene was booked
03:06into Orange County Jail,
03:07but posted her $4,000 bond
03:09on October 24th.
03:11Her next court date
03:12was not immediately clear.
