Volusia County mom arrested, accused of neglecting 4 young children

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County mother was arrested Wednesday after deputies and a Florida Department of Children and Families investigator found her four children left home alone for a full day.

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Deputies were called to 25-year-old Rosaura Sanchez’ Seville home Wednesday afternoon to assist the DCF investigator, who reported hearing children in the home, but no one answering the door.

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According to the sheriff’s office, it took two hours for a family friend to arrive at the home who was able to get the children inside to respond.

The friend told deputies she’d only gone to the home because she also hadn’t heard from the kids’ mother all day.

Deputies say the oldest child, a nine-year-old boy, explained he was taking care of the other three children, ages six, two, and one. The boy told deputies he didn’t know where their mother was and hadn’t seen her since the previous day.

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According to the sheriff’s office, the home was also in “extremely poor and unkempt” condition. Deputies noted the children were wearing dirty clothes and appeared not to have been bathed for some time.

Deputies also noted the home sits in close proximity to a busy roadway and a set of train tracks used by fast-moving trains, with no barrier to prevent small children from wandering onto the tracks or roadway.

When Sanchez finally returned to the home Wednesday afternoon, she told deputies her friend was there to watch the children in the morning, but the friend denied that and left the scene.

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Sanchez was arrested and charged with four separate counts of child neglect. She’s being held in the Volusia County jail on a total of $10,000 bond.

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Cox Media Group