(HOUSTON) — A Texas mother has been arrested after allegedly leaving her two young children home alone for days to go on a cruise, court records show.
Lakesha Williams, 29, of Houston, has been charged with abandoning a child with intent to return, a felony, according to a criminal complaint.
Neighbors at her high-rise apartment building reportedly saw Williams leave with luggage on April 4 but “never saw her return,” according to the complaint.
A woman at the apartment complex reached out to law enforcement to request a wellness check because the neighbors were worried about the children’s safety, according to the complaint.
Deputies conducted a welfare check on Tuesday, five days after Williams allegedly left, and found an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl alone in the apartment, the complaint stated. The apartment was in “complete disarray,” with trash and food strewn about and a “very potent smell of urine,” the complaint stated.
The children reportedly told police that their mother left them on April 4 “to go on vacation on a cruise and they did not know when she would return,” the complaint stated.
It did not appear that any adults had been supervising the children since then, according to the complaint. Williams allegedly used a video camera to watch and talk to the children during that time, and the boy had a phone he was using to text her, according to the complaint.
“These children were definitely left unattended for many days and put in serious harm’s way,” Keegan Childers, the chief prosecutor of the 209th District Court, told Houston ABC station KTRK.
A Child Protective Services agent responded to the scene to ensure the children were in good health and they were released into the custody of their aunt, according to the complaint.
Deputies tried contacting Williams to have her respond to the scene “but she was not cooperating and was switching up her story on her whereabouts,” the complaint stated.
Williams was arrested on Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, online court records show. The records do not list any attorney information for her.
ABC News was unable to reach the aunt for comment. She declined to comment to KTRK.
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