Insets, from left: Latoya Garland and Mikequisha Gordon (Miami-Dade Corrections). Background: The North Miami intersection of NE 7th Avenue and 132nd Street, where police say Garland and Gordon locked their children, ages 5 and 7, out of their home (Google Maps).
Two North Miami mothers are accused of locking their young children outside their home after telling them to go play outdoors, then refusing to answer when the children knocked to get back in, according to police.
Mikequisha Gordon, 36, and Latoya Garland, 40, were arrested on child abuse charges.
The case began around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, when a school resource officer spotted the two unattended children near NE 7th Avenue and 132nd Street in North Miami, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit.
The children — a 7-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy — later told officers they had been at a nearby apartment complex when their mothers instructed them to go outside and play. Investigators say Gordon and Garland then locked the door behind them.
After becoming tired, the children tried to return home, but police said their mothers would not let them inside despite repeated knocks at the door.
The children also told authorities they were hungry, prompting them to walk to a nearby Publix in hopes of getting food. They were unable to obtain anything to eat and headed back toward the apartment complex, where the school resource officer encountered them, police said.
A neighbor attempted to reach one of the women by phone, but the call went unanswered. Officers also knocked several times at the apartment door and received no response, even though they could hear a phone ringing inside, according to the affidavit.
Police eventually forced entry into the apartment and found Gordon and Garland passed out on a couch, the affidavit states. Officers woke both women, who were described as “sluggish” and appearing to be “impaired by an unknown substance.”
Gordon and Garland were booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail, where they remained held on $2,500 bonds. Upcoming court dates were not listed.
The post 5-year-old and 7-year-old kids forced to walk to Publix because they were hungry and their mothers locked them out: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
