Insets, from left: Brian Nicholas Cannella and Allison Sirica Cannella (Monroe County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Reefhouse Resort & Marina in Key Largo, Florida, where authorities say the couple left their “young children” unattended (Google Maps).
A Florida couple was arrested after authorities say they left their young children alone in a hotel room while they spent the Fourth of July drinking by the pool, interrupting their holiday festivities as others marked America’s 250th birthday.
Brian Nicholas Cannella, 43, and Allison Sirica Cannella, 40, are each facing a child neglect charge, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in the Florida Keys said in a Facebook post.
Deputies were called at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday to the Reefhouse Resort & Marina in Key Largo after hotel staff reported entering a guest room because an unattended baby was crying. Officials did not release the children’s ages, saying only that they were “young” and had been left alone in “nursery beds/cribs.”
Resort employees told investigators they “eventually” located the Cannellas at the pool, where the couple was drinking alcoholic beverages, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies said they reviewed surveillance footage, gathered witness accounts and used other investigative methods to determine the children had been left unattended for roughly 40 minutes to an hour.
The Department of Children and Family Services was notified and responded to the hotel, where the children were placed in the care of a family friend. Deputies said the children were not physically injured, aside from the apparent distress caused by being left alone.
The suspects were arrested and taken to the Monroe County Jail, where they have since bonded out. It’s unclear when they are next slated to appear in court. A probable cause arrest affidavit was not immediately available.
