Florida Mother Arrested After Leaving Four Children Home Alone During Las Vegas Work Trip

A Kissimmee, Florida, mother, Irene Miller, 50, was arrested at Orlando International Airport on Friday after the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said she left her four children, ages 14, 12, 11 and 9, home alone while she was in Las Vegas for work. Deputies said a child called 911 just after 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 to report that a dumbbell had fallen on her 9-year-old brother's head, and they found no adults at the home. The boy was taken to Celebration Hospital and later released. Miller told deputies she left Oct. 18 and was due back Oct. 23, and that a babysitter from Tampa came on school mornings and after school but was not required to stay overnight. The children's father, Mark Miller, 53, took them in. Miller was charged with four counts of third-degree felony child endangerment without bodily harm, which carries up to 20 years, according to one report. Mark Miller has started a GoFundMe seeking $5,000 and says the family is living in a single motel room.

Left-leaning CBS News and NBC News stick closely to the sheriff's account: the 911 call, the deputies' findings, Miller's explanation and the babysitter arrangement. NBC calls the injury apparently minor and quotes the sheriff's statement, and neither piece, in the excerpts, mentions legal experts or the father's fundraising. Right-leaning outlets add more. The New York Post leads with Miami family lawyer Evan Marks, who calls it neglect and a recipe for disaster, and notes Florida sets no minimum age for being left alone. The Daily Mail leads with its own claim that Miller refused to fly home after the hospitalization, citing Captain Kim Montes, and features the father's motel and fundraiser. Both sides agree on the core facts but differ on trip length (nearly three days versus five) and tone. Alternative and independent outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left- and right-leaning outlets had.