TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A Tallahassee woman is behind bars on multiple child neglect charges after deputies say her young children wandered away from home to look for her after she left them alone to go party in Quincy.
Kimberly Forbes, 30, has been charged with four counts of neglect of a child without great bodily harm.
According to arrest documents, the Leon County Sheriff's office was called to the 1200 block of Spring Oaks Lane on July 26 around 10 p.m. about two young children. The caller told deputies that the children, who she did not know, had knocked on her door and asked her to help them find their mother.
When deputies responded, they spoke to the caller who said that she didn't know the children's parents and had never seen the children before.
Documents say that the eldest child was crying and the toddler the child had with her had on a heavily soiled diaper. Deputies say they then went over the to the house where the children came from and found two more young children inside the home. Investigators note that the children were all under 10 years old.
The children said that Forbes had left them to go to a party and did not have a phone to contact anyone if something happened to them. They also told investigators that a relative was supposed to come by and check on them, but had not.
Eventually, documents say deputies were able to get in contact with Forbes, who said that she was currently in Quincy and had to catch a ride to Tallahassee. When she arrived to the home around 1:15 a.m., deputies interviewed Forbes.
She told deputies that she left the home around 9 p.m. to go to a birthday party in Quincy. Before she left, she said that she sent texts to her cousin, who lives around the corner, telling her to watch her kids for her. However, documents say Forbes admitted that she never spoke to her cousin on the phone and never followed up to make sure her cousin checked on her kids.
While deputies say Forbes agreed that she is responsible for providing for her kids, she blamed her cousin.
"Kimberly stated that [her cousin] has come through for her in the past ... Kimberly admitted she did not follow up to make sure her children were taken care off," investigators wrote in the arrest report. "Kimberly throughout our conversation blamed [her cousin] for not taking care of her kids, even after admitting to me that she was the one responsible for making sure her children were supervised."
Based on the evidence, deputies found probable cause to charge Forbes with four counts of child neglect. Documents note Forbes also had a warrant out for her arrest for failure to appear.
As of Tuesday, she is being held in jail on a $10,250 bond.
To find resources aimed at helping mothers in need in the state of Florida, click here.
