A Florida mother has been charged with four felonies after police say she left her four young children — including a 2-month-old baby — alone at home while she took a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, faces four counts of child neglect. Authorities say she boarded Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest and left the children unattended inside her North Miami Beach apartment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested her Monday when she returned to port.
“You cannot make this up,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer said during Tuesday’s hearing, according to court video. “We are just grateful nothing worse happened to those kids.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, lowered her head and wiped away a tear with her orange jail uniform during Tuesday’s arraignment. (WSVN)
“Who leaves four little kids alone to go on a cruise?”
“The poor kids were home alone.”
Officers found the children Saturday, one day after the cruise departed. Body-camera video showed them emerging from a bathroom where they had reportedly been hiding. The group included a 2-year-old, a preteen and what appeared to be a teenage girl carrying a newborn.
Lether Bazile, the newborn’s father, told police that Belizaire had said the children would be staying with their great-grandmother, the New York Post reported.
A toddler approached a bathroom doorway after North Miami Beach police responded to an apartment where four children were allegedly left alone while their mother went on a three-day Bahamas cruise. (WSVN)
Bazile said he became suspicious after seeing Belizaire’s WhatsApp story two days earlier, which appeared to feature a Carnival Cruise Line ticket.
When he went to Belizaire’s apartment, Bazile saw the television on through the blinds and heard children inside.
He called police immediately. Officers entered the residence and found all four children hiding in a bathroom without an adult present.
Authorities said the children’s grandmother, Denise Wilkes, told officers that Belizaire had promised to bring the children to her but never arrived. Belizaire’s brother, Steven Borgella, also told police that his sister sent him a text at 8 p.m. Eastern time on the day the children were discovered, asking him to check on them.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Cousin of Murdered New York Times Executive Shares Theory About His Death
Video showed a 2-year-old, a preteen and a teenager carrying a newborn as they left a North Miami Beach apartment after their mother allegedly departed for a three-day cruise, leaving the children home alone. (WSVN)
Belizaire was taken into custody Monday as she stepped off the cruise ship at the Miami port. She reportedly declined to answer questions from investigators.
At Tuesday’s arraignment, Belizaire’s attorney emphasized that the allegations had not been proven and said his client denies leaving the children alone to go on vacation.
“At this time, it is only an allegation; she denies the allegation,” the defense attorney told the court.
“They arrested her disembarking from the cruise ship!” Judge Glazer responded.
“I understand that, judge, I understand that,” the attorney replied. “The question is who was responsible for the children at the time?”
Police video showed four children being removed from a North Miami Beach apartment after authorities determined they had allegedly been left home alone. (WSVN)
Glazer thought for a second, before saying “usually it’s the mother, the person that gave birth to them.”
“There are also others responsible, it’s not just mothers,” the defense attorney replied. “It’s not just mothers that are in charge of children, judge. It’s also fathers and grandparents and other people.”
“See, the mothers always know who their children are,” Glazer said. “Fathers may not know, but it looks like different fathers here. One of the fathers grew concerned and called the police.”
Belizaire was given a stay away order until the Department of Children and Families can investigate. She faces four felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. Bond was set at $10,000, $2,500 per child.
This recent arrest is not Belizaire’s first run-in with the law. She previously faced aggravated battery charges in January 2025 after allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbor in the face during a dispute regarding her daughter, the Post reported.