Insets, from left: Latoya Garland and Mikequisha Gordon (Miami-Dade Corrections). Background: The area of NE 7th Avenue and 132nd Street in North Miami, where Garland and Gordon are accused of locking their children, ages 5 and 7, out of their home (Google Maps).
Two Florida mothers are accused of forcing their young children outside to play, then locking the door and refusing to respond when the kids knocked to get back in, according to police and a local report.
Mikequisha Gordon, 36, and Latoya Garland, 40, have each been charged with child abuse.
A school resource officer found the children unattended in the street at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday 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 Gordon and Garland allegedly instructed them to go outside and play before locking them out.
When the kids were tired, they tried to come back inside but their mothers did not let them in, despite them knocking on the door several times.
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The kids were reportedly hungry, so they walked to a nearby Publix to try to get some food. They were unable to get any, so they walked back. That’s when the school resource officer allegedly saw them.
A neighbor tried to call one of the mothers, but she was not answering. Cops also knocked on the door several times but received no response though, they could hear the phone ringing.
Officers forced their way into the apartment and found Gordon and Garland passed out on the couch. Cops woke them up although they were “sluggish” and appeared to be “impaired by an unknown substance,” per the affidavit.
The two defendants were arrested and taken to the Miami-Dade County Jail, where they remain on $2,500 bonds. Their next 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.