This mother wanted to vacation in Europe, so she did — and left her 4 kids home alone, police say
An Iowa mother was arrested after she left her four young children home alone unsupervised so she could take a vacation in Europe, police say.
Erin Lee Macke, a 30-year-old from Johnston, Iowa, allegedly left the United States on Sept. 20, planning to return nearly two weeks later on Oct 1, according to the Des Moines Register. In the meantime, police say she left her children — one six- and seven-year-old and two 12-year-olds — alone at their house with no one to watch over them.
Police received a tip about Macke leaving her children alone and checked on her house on Sept. 21 to see what was going on.
That’s when police say they found the four children. The kids told police that their mother didn’t arrange for someone to watch over them while she would be gone.
Macke was contacted by police over the phone while in Germany and was told to return to the states, according to Fox News. She told authorities that none of her babysitters could watch the kids, so she just decided to leave her two pre-teens in charge, police say.
She returned to the United States and police charged her with four counts of child endangerment and another for making a firearm available for someone under the age of 21, according to the Register.
She faces the firearm charge because police say a gun in the house was within reach of the children.
The Johnston Police Department shared information about the arrest on its Facebook page.
Johnston police Lt. Tyler Tompkins told KCCI that he’s “never heard of anything like this before.”
“We have situations where parents go next door or parents may go out for the night,” Tompkins said, “and while that’s not advisable either depending on the age of the children, obviously leaving the country is a totally different situation.”
The Iowa Department of Human Services at first took custody of the children, with the two 12-year-olds now staying with family while the 6- and 7-year-old are with their father, according to KCCI.
It’s a situation that still boggles Tompkins’ mind.
“This, where a parent has left the country and left the kids home alone,” Tompkins said, “I’ve never heard of it before.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 6:07 AM with the headline "This mother wanted to vacation in Europe, so she did — and left her 4 kids home alone, police say."