WESTLAKE, Ohio – A mom from suburban Cleveland left her kids home alone for three days while she took a trip to South Florida for cosmetic surgery.
The children were left home alone without even a phone, while police say their mom was more than a thousand miles away and lied about where she was and what she was doing.
Police said Domonique Knowles, 32, of Westlake, Ohio, put her kids in danger when she left them home alone for three days while she took a trip to Florida for liposuction. Officers said Knowles would check in via FaceTime or monitor them from the home’s security cameras.
But if it wasn’t for a concerned teacher, police may have never known a fourth grader and her two 7-year-old twin sisters with special needs were home alone.
“She kind of reported to her teacher that she talked to mom on the camera last night and that mom ordered them Uber Eats and left it at the door,” police said in body camera video.
It all happened in February, but the details are just surfacing now that Knowles was found guilty of child endangerment.
Police say the apartment was filthy, and there was liquid spilled all over the floor. While officers were there, one of the twins slipped and fell.
Prosecutor Michael Maloney said he was horrified when he got the case.
“Remote work is one thing, remote mom is another,” he said.
Police tracked down the grandmother.
“No, no. It was worse. Mom lied to her mother,” Maloney said. “There were adults that were available to help out.”
Detectives say Knowles took her 8-month-old son with her but left her three other kids at home near Cleveland. She allegedly denied leaving the state, but police were able to prove she spent two nights in Miami.
“She lied. We have pretty good technology and pretty trained detectives,” Maloney said. “They showed her leaving Hopkins Airport, timed the calls showing mom at an airport in Miami, and when mom was confronted with that, she changed her story and said something about having to be in Miami because her friend needed liposuction surgery.”
Knowles was arrested and charged with child endangerment.
“There was a patio door that was unlocked when the officers were there,” Maloney said. “Every teacher and counselor at the school said there is no question these girls would have wandered off.”
Knowles avoided jail time and was instead ordered to serve 360 days of house arrest, five years of probation, plus fines and mandatory counseling.