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Mother Arrested After Kids Found Wandering Apartment Complex

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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – Sunrise police arrested a mother after her children were found wandering the parking lot of an apartment building.

Wearing a protective vest, 27-year-old Rose Petit Homme spoke softly to the judge as he outlined why she was arrested Sunday on two counts of child neglect.

Police said she left her sleeping children, ages 1 and 3 years old, home alone while she went to the store.

A driver spotted the children, who were walking about the parking lot adjacent to Sunset Strip, a main thoroughfare with heavy traffic.

The motorist accompanied the children to the complex's courtyard in search of their mother. There he found a neighbor who recognized the children and took them in.

When she returned to the apartment, Petit Homme told police she went to Home Depot to buy a tool to fix a broken sunroof on her car which she said kept draining her car battery.

Police estimate she was gone an hour and a half.

Petit Homme's children are now in the care of her sister.

The judge told Petit Homme that's where the children will remain until the Department of Children and Families conducts an investigation.

"You are not to be alone with them," Judge John Fry said.

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