Nocturnal 
A Florida mother has been arrested and charged with child neglect after she allegedly left her four young children, including a two-month-old baby and a two-year-old toddler, home alone while she went on a four-day Carnival cruise to the Bahamas.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, from North Miami Beach, was met by police as she disembarked the Carnival Conquest at PortMiami on Monday, according to the North Miami Beach Police Department. She now faces four counts of felony child neglect, as first reported by Law & Crime and NBC 6 South Florida.
How the alarm was raised
Police say the father of Belizaire’s two-month-old grew suspicious after spotting a photo of a cruise ticket on her social media. When he called her, she allegedly told him the children had been dropped off with their great-grandmother.
According to her arrest report, the father went to Belizaire’s apartment on Saturday night and could hear a television on and children talking inside, but there was no adult around. He called 911, and first responders forced entry into the home.
Officers reportedly found all four children “hiding together in the bathroom”, with no adult supervision, according to the arrest document cited by the Daily Mail and LADbible.
What Belizaire has said
Belizaire has denied the allegations. Her attorney told NBC6:
“Of course she (denies the charges)…. One baby, the baby was born in July of this year. Who leaves a baby alone like that?”
Police say Belizaire told investigators she had arranged for the children’s great-grandmother to look after them while she was away, but that the great-grandmother never showed up before she left for the cruise. Officers also noted she had allegedly texted her brother asking him to check on the children over the weekend.
The ages of all four children have not been fully confirmed by police, though officials have said one was two months old and another was two years old.
Where things stand now
Belizaire posted a $10,000 bond and has been released from custody. As part of her release, she is reportedly subject to a strict stay-away order barring her from contacting her four children, who have been placed in the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Reports also note this is not Belizaire’s first run-in with the law. In January last year, she was arrested and charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm after allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbour during a dispute. The status of that earlier case is unclear.
The current child neglect case is ongoing, and as with any pending criminal matter, Belizaire is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. Nocturnal News will update this story as more details emerge.
