A Plantation, Florida mother was arrested this week for allegedly leaving her three children alone at home while she worked the night at a Fort Lauderdale Wawa.
Linda St. Leger’s attorney told a judge Thursday, a day after the arrest, that the single mother had no other choice than to leave the 10, 8, and 2-year-old alone at the home and go to work.
“We have a single mother that got an emergency call from her employer basically saying, ‘You have to come back to work because somebody didn’t show’,” Attorney Hector Romero argued. “If not, you’re going to lose your job.”
“She’s a single mom trying to make rent payments, trying to make water payments.”
Just before midnight Tuesday, police received reports of a toddler in a soiled diaper wandering with a dog.
The 2-year-old boy was St. Leger’s son. He was found a quarter-mile away from the home where temperatures reached 91 degrees at 1:07 a.m.
Officers noticed urine and dog feces around St. Leger’s home and the lack of food for the unattended children.
“I understand why she wasn’t there, but the danger to the children remains the same, regardless of the parent’s motive,” assistant state attorney Eric Linder said.
St. Leger was booked at the Broward County Jail for child neglect. Her kids have since been placed with their father.
