Laquisha GriffinA Chattanooga woman who police said left her three young children home alone for hours Friday night was arrested and charged with child neglect when she returned home Saturday morning.
Police believe Laquisha Griffin, 33, left her children, ages 3, 7, and 9, home alone from about 8 p.m. Friday to 3:30 a.m. Saturday, court records show.
One of the children's fathers discovered they were home alone when he stopped by the house around 11 p.m., according to a police report.
The man called Griffin several times to try to figure out where she was, and she told him each time she was "just around the corner" and "on her way home," he told police.
After talking to Griffin, the man took his daughter with him and waited about an hour before he called police, he said.
Griffin was not home when police arrived. She returned around 3:30 a.m. Saturday and told police she had been out running errands with a friend.
She initially told police her neighbor was supposed to watch the children, then said the man who called police was supposed to be watching them, then finally claimed a neighbor's mother was supposed to be watching them.
Each of those people told police Griffin had not asked them to watch her children, according to the report. One neighbor played a phone call from Griffin in which she asked him to tell police that he was watching her kids.
After police called child protective services, the children were given to Griffin's sister and Griffin was taken to jail on three counts of child neglect. She was later released on bond.
She is scheduled to appear Nov. 15 in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
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