By Ameh Sunday Enyo-ojo
A 29-year-old Florida mother, Nathalie Belizaire, has been arrested after allegedly leaving her four young children, including a two-month-old baby and a two-year-old child, home alone while she travelled on a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
Belizaire was arrested on Monday after returning to PortMiami aboard the Carnival Conquest, according to North Miami Beach police and court documents. She faces four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
According to the arrest affidavit, the father of Belizaire’s two-month-old child became concerned after seeing a WhatsApp post indicating that she had purchased a cruise ticket.
The man told police that when he contacted Belizaire, she allegedly said she would drop the children off with their great-grandmother.
However, when he went to Belizaire’s North Miami Beach apartment on Saturday night, he reportedly saw the television on and heard the children inside. He subsequently called 911.
Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and entered the apartment, where they allegedly found all four children without adult supervision. Investigators said the siblings were found together in a bathroom.
The children’s great-grandmother reportedly told investigators that Belizaire had said she would bring the children to her because she was going out of town, but never brought them.
Police also said Belizaire’s brother told investigators that she sent him a text message on Saturday instructing him to check on the children.
Investigators determined that Belizaire had purchased a three-day ticket aboard the Carnival Conquest, which departed PortMiami on September 25 for the Bahamas.
When the ship returned to Miami on Monday, authorities were waiting for her at PortMiami. She was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection before being turned over to North Miami Beach police.
Belizaire declined to provide a statement to investigators and invoked her right to remain silent. Her attorney has denied the allegations on her behalf.
A court subsequently set her bond at $10,000 and ordered conditions relating to contact with the children. Reports say the children were found safe and were placed in foster care.
The allegations against Belizaire have not been proven in court.
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