Mother Jailed For Leaving Kids Home Alone To Go On Cruise, Blames Her Cousin

A mother in Houston who was arrested for leaving her two young children at home alone to embark on a vacation cruise is attempting to blame her cousin.

Lakesha Woods Williams, 29, had her $25,000 bond upheld on Monday, April 15, after she was apartment-while-on-cruise/285-10b6276b-2081-4628-bab0-1e66d02d7f82" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">charged for leaving her 6-year-old and 8-year-old children at home while she went on a cruise, KHOU reports. Williams says she paid her cousin to watch her children while she was away for nearly a week, but he allegedly took the money and never came to babysit.

“You left your child unattended for four days,” Assistant District Attorney Keegan Childers asked.

“Let’s say you leave the country out on a trip, and the cousin doesn’t go to take care of the children. If this is really a plane flight like she says it is, wouldn’t you, as a parent, be on the first plane back immediately?”

Neighbors say they saw Williams leaving with luggage on April 4 and never returning. On April 9, police conducted a welfare check at the luxury high-rise apartment complex on Katy Freeway after a witness revealed neighbors’ concerns that the children were home alone.

Authorities found the brother and sister alone inside the apartment that was in complete “disarray,” with trash and leftover food all over and a smell of urine, court records state. The children told police that their mother left on April 4, and they didn’t know when she would be back.

A camera was found that Williams used to watch and communicate with the children, and the boy also had a cellphone to

text his mother while she was away. When deputies with the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office tried tracking down Williams, she reportedly failed to respond and continued to change her whereabouts.

Williams was arrested on Thursday, April 11, and charged with child abandonment with intent to return. On Friday, April 12, she was given the $25,000 bond, with a judge ruling to uphold the bond on Monday, calling the case “egregious.”

The children are currently with Williams’ sister, and a protective order was placed to prevent the mother

from communicating with or being near her son or daughter, ABC Houston reports.

“We take these child abuse cases very seriously,” Childers said. “Even if you’re acting negligently, it’s not an excuse.”

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