P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326758,00.html
Authorities Arrest Mom Who Left Kids Alone to Travel to Africa to Get
Married
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
HOUSTON - A mother was behind bars on Wednesday after authorities say she
left her six children home alone while she traveled to Africa to marry a man
she met on the Internet.
Shanell Monique Mosley, 33, was arrested at a Houston airport when she
returned, charged with child endangerment and child abandonment for leaving
the children in poor conditions. Two other children who are neighbors were
also at the home.
Mosley made her first court appearance Wednesday. She has a $275,000 bail.
Child welfare officials contacted Mosley to notify her that her children
were in CPS custody and she faced charges, but she hung up, said John
Jordan, a Harris County prosecutor.
"It appears that she continued with her honeymoon while her kids had been in
CPS custody," Jordan said.
Mosley claims her sister was supposed to watch the kids during her absence.
"I didn't just leave my kids, if that's what you think," Mosley said. "This
trip was pre-planned for a year."
Child welfare officials were reviewing the case while the children remained
in foster homes, said Estella Olguin, a spokeswoman for Child Protective
Services.
Lt. John Legg, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, said they
found the home in poor condition.
"We don't know what would have happened had we not responded," Legg said.
Authorities found the children alone in the house in early January and
investigated Mosley's whereabouts, learning she had traveled to Nigeria.
When she left for Nigeria on Dec. 31, Mosley told her 15-year-old daughter
she would return in a month, child welfare officials said.
"I left money in my closet," Mosley said. "I gave one of my children three
ATM cards."
Assistant Harris County District Attorney John Jordan said investigators
have learned Mosley's six children were starving and her older children
could not recall their own birth dates.
Mosley's children are 1, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 16, Jordan said. The other two
children found in the home were 3- and 4-year-olds the family cared for on
behalf of a single father who worked, Jordan said.
Mosley left a Lone Star food card, but officials said it had no monetary
balance.
The 9-year-old son told authorities he and the baby ate a still-frozen pizza
for breakfast the morning they were discovered home alone. There were no
diapers, baby food or formula for the infant, no sheets on beds and fruit
was rotting in a basket, Jordan said.
Click here for more coverage from MyFOXHouston.com:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/p...n=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
Authorities Arrest Mom Who Left Kids Alone to Travel to Africa to Get
Married
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
HOUSTON - A mother was behind bars on Wednesday after authorities say she
left her six children home alone while she traveled to Africa to marry a man
she met on the Internet.
Shanell Monique Mosley, 33, was arrested at a Houston airport when she
returned, charged with child endangerment and child abandonment for leaving
the children in poor conditions. Two other children who are neighbors were
also at the home.
Mosley made her first court appearance Wednesday. She has a $275,000 bail.
Child welfare officials contacted Mosley to notify her that her children
were in CPS custody and she faced charges, but she hung up, said John
Jordan, a Harris County prosecutor.
"It appears that she continued with her honeymoon while her kids had been in
CPS custody," Jordan said.
Mosley claims her sister was supposed to watch the kids during her absence.
"I didn't just leave my kids, if that's what you think," Mosley said. "This
trip was pre-planned for a year."
Child welfare officials were reviewing the case while the children remained
in foster homes, said Estella Olguin, a spokeswoman for Child Protective
Services.
Lt. John Legg, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, said they
found the home in poor condition.
"We don't know what would have happened had we not responded," Legg said.
Authorities found the children alone in the house in early January and
investigated Mosley's whereabouts, learning she had traveled to Nigeria.
When she left for Nigeria on Dec. 31, Mosley told her 15-year-old daughter
she would return in a month, child welfare officials said.
"I left money in my closet," Mosley said. "I gave one of my children three
ATM cards."
Assistant Harris County District Attorney John Jordan said investigators
have learned Mosley's six children were starving and her older children
could not recall their own birth dates.
Mosley's children are 1, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 16, Jordan said. The other two
children found in the home were 3- and 4-year-olds the family cared for on
behalf of a single father who worked, Jordan said.
Mosley left a Lone Star food card, but officials said it had no monetary
balance.
The 9-year-old son told authorities he and the baby ate a still-frozen pizza
for breakfast the morning they were discovered home alone. There were no
diapers, baby food or formula for the infant, no sheets on beds and fruit
was rotting in a basket, Jordan said.
Click here for more coverage from MyFOXHouston.com:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/p...n=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
