A Florida mother was arrested after allegedly leaving her four young children—including a 2-month-old baby and a 2-year-old—alone at home while she took a three-night cruise to the Bahamas. The circumstances visibly stunned the judge overseeing the case.
“Who leaves four little kids alone to go on a cruise?” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer asked Nathalie Belizaire, 29, during a Tuesday court appearance conducted by video, according to Local 10.
“The poor kids were home alone!” the judge exclaimed.
Belizaire faces four counts of child neglect after allegedly boarding Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest for a three-night trip, leaving the children inside her North Miami Beach home, according to an arrest affidavit.
Lether Bazile, the father of the 2-month-old child, told police that Belizaire said she planned to leave the children with their great-grandmother. However, when he stopped at Belizaire’s home on Sept. 26—one day after the ship departed—he heard children inside and saw a television on through the blinds.
Bazile contacted police, who found the children hiding in a bathroom with no adult present. Their grandmother, Denise Wilkes, told officers that Belizaire had said she would drop off the children but never showed up.
Belizaire’s brother, Steven Borgella, also told police that she texted him that same day and asked him to check on the children.
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Authorities arrested Belizaire as she disembarked from the ship at the Port of Miami on Sept. 28. The arrest documents say she declined to speak with officers. That detail drew Judge Glazer’s attention after Belizaire’s attorney described the cruise-related allegations as unproven—claims Belizaire denies.
“They arrested her disembarking from the cruise ship!” Glazer responded.
“You cannot make this up!” she added. “We are just grateful nothing worse happened to those kids.”
The ages of Belizaire’s other two children were not immediately available.
Belizaire was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Monday afternoon on four felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
Court records show that she was ordered to stay away from the children, and her bond was set at $10,000.
The alleged cruise incident was not Belizaire’s first encounter with law enforcement.
In January 2025, she was arrested and charged with aggravated battery after allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbor in the face. Belizaire reportedly believed the neighbor was harassing her daughter.