Jun 19, 2009 7:53 pm US/Eastern
L.I. Woman Accused Of Leaving Tots Home Alone
Police: 24-Year-Old Jennifer Gonzalez Left Her Kids, 2, 5, Home Alone For Nearly Three Hours
CORAM, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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24-Year-Old Jennifer Gonzalez was charged with child endangerment on Friday after she left her young children home alone for nearly 3 hours.
CBS
Suffolk County Police say a Long Island woman left her 2-year-old and 5-year-old home alone for nearly three hours while she went to get her nails done.
"The allegation is that's what she had done to her nails, [that] she had her fingernails done," Sgt. Kosciuk said.
The mother, 24-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez, was to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip on a child endangerment charge.
"This all apparently started after a minor domestic dispute between Jennifer Gonzalez and her boyfriend, who she has these children in common with," Kosciuk said.
A neighbor in Coram, N.Y., called police Thursday night after a concerned neighbor discovered the two little boys.
"This was in response to a neighbor making a complaint about children screaming in a nearby apartment," Suffolk County Police Sgt. Jean Kosciuk says.
Police say the mother told them she went for a walk while the children slept. Then she decided to stay out longer because she couldn't deal with supervising them.
People in the neighborhood live very close to one another, and most didn't want to appear on camera. But they did tell CBS 2 that they have a lot of respect for the father – they say he loves those kids, and he takes good care of them. That may be why police returned the children to the father's care.
The boys were released into their father's custody.
Gonzalez, her face hidden by a hood and wearing an unseasonably warm winter coat, was able to leave court Friday after a brief appearance. The endangering the welfare of a child charge is a misdemeanor.
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