ROMAN FOREST, Texas – A Texas mother has been arrested after allegedly leaving her two young children home alone for nearly two months while she was out of state in Mobile, Alabama with a male friend.
Raven Yates, 31, allegedly left her 12-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son home alone from Sept. 28 to Nov. 14, according to Roman Forest Police.
Police said the children were alone for almost 7 weeks, much of the time without access to food or medical supplies.
The girl’s father told police he realized the children were home alone after he was told Yates had been seen out of state and his daughter had been asking him to send food regularly.
Investigators told ABC13 that Yates had told her daughter that the girl’s father would take her and leave her brother alone if she told anyone.
The girl would reportedly call her father and ask him to send food to the house, claiming Yates was working, ABC13 reported.
Family members eventually spotted Yates in Mobile, where she is from, and contacted the girl’s father saying the kids were not with her.
According to a press release, the father called the police after learning the children were alone and immediately flew in from California where he had been working.
An arrest warrant was issued on Dec. 8 for two counts of abandoning or endangering a child without intent to return, police said.
After details of her story were made public, police said Yates was actively making social media posts about the situation, which led to her being located at an apartment complex in Mobile.
U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force followed a tip and the apartment manager confirmed Yates was staying with a male in the complex.
Police said the male friend cooperated with authorities and allowed entry into the apartment Wednesday afternoon where Yates was apprehended.
Yates is awaiting extradition back to Montgomery County, Roman Forest Police say.