Mother Leaves Three Kids And Infant Alone At Home To Go Out Drinking

Four children were found alone in a house in Oklahoma City after their mother left them unsupervised while she was at a bar. The woman, who was heavily intoxicated when she returned, found cops waiting for her at the house and was arrested.

The incident came to light after Oklahoma City police received a call early Sunday morning and proceeded to perform a welfare check. Officers arrived at the house near Southwest 33rd and Blackwelder to find four young children alone inside, according to WAGM-TV.

The woman, identified as Pera Aguilar, had left the oldest of the children, aged 9, to take care of her younger siblings, aged 8 and 5, along with a 9-month-old infant.

First responders who arrived at the scene spoke to the 9-year-old girl, who admitted she gave the 9-month-old infant pizza because she did not know what else to feed her while their mother was out.

According to the arrest report, investigators found the baby lying asleep face down. The 9-year-old child said she “fed the baby pizza… because she didn’t know what to feed her.”

The mother “does this all the time,” the 9-year-old child told the police officers.

“Apparently there was something going on at a local bar and that was where she wanted to be, so, she simply left the kids unattended at the home,” said MSgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Talking about the 9-year-old girl left in charge of the younger siblings, Knight said, “She was obviously not equipped to take care of three young children.”

Aguilar, who had been “drinking alcohol at the bar where she worked,” finally arrived back home to find the cops waiting for her. She was immediately taken into custody. The woman later admitted that “she has been in trouble for neglecting her children” before.

“It was determined that she had gone to a bar," Knight said. "She was driving, had driven to the bar, had driven back. She was intoxicated. She smelled of alcohol. Her speech was heavily slurred. She kept repeating herself.”

A neighbor, who preferred not to be identified, told News 4 on Tuesday that she knew the children had been left alone in the past as well. She believes Aguilar’s sister informed the police about the situation.

“There’s no law that addresses at what age a child is responsible enough to take care of other children," Knight said. "Obviously, it’s a case-by-case basis. In this particular case, this child was overwhelmed with the duties that she was tasked with."

Aguilar was taken to the Oklahoma County Jail and faces charges of child neglect, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.