MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade woman was arrested after authorities say she left her five children home alone overnight and failed to provide timely medical care to one of them following a near-drowning incident that occurred over the weekend.
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Jaquila Ragin, 39, was taken into custody Sunday at her home near the 2200 block of Northwest 57th Street in the county’s Brownsville neighborhood, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said Ragin left the children — ages 14, 12, 10, 8, and 4 — unsupervised on Feb. 21 while she visited her boyfriend.
They said at around 2 a.m., a neighbor saw the 8-year-old girl walking alone in the neighborhood.
Deputies said later that day all five children were in a pool without supervision when the 8-year-old began struggling to stay afloat.
The 12-year-old boy attempted to rescue her but also began to swallow water, according to the report.
Authorities said that same boy managed to push his sister to the pool’s edge before going underwater himself. The 10-year-old boy then tried to save his older sibling but the 12-year-old was “completely underwater at this time,” deputies wrote.
Three days later, on Wednesday, deputies said Ragin drove the 12-year-old boy to the hospital after he had suffered from a fever and chest pain.
Authorities said Ragin was taken into custody at the hospital and later transported to the MDSO’s Northside District station for questioning.
After being read her Miranda rights, deputies said Ragin made a confession, though details were redacted in the publicly released report.
Investigators said she “failed to provide the victims with necessary care, supervision and medical services.”
Deputies have not yet provided an update on the 12-year-old boy’s condition.
Jail records show Ragin is facing five counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
As of Thursday, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where her bond was listed as “to be set.”
