SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – An 8-year-old boy was allegedly left home alone for the Memorial Day weekend while his mother traveled out of state.
Kionna Moret, 27, is now facing charges of child neglect and child endangerment after someone called police to report her son being left to fend for himself Saturday.
“To leave an 8-year-old on their own for a weekend and go two states away, to me, is just mind blowing,” said the woman who filed the police report.
The woman wished to remain anonymous to protect her family, but she said her teenage child was outside kicking a ball around Saturday afternoon when the young boy came outside to play.
She said the boy later told her son he was left home for the weekend by his mother who went to South Carolina for the holiday weekend.
The woman told WAVY.com she called authorities around 5 p.m. Saturday after talking with the boy herself.
“I looked over at him and said, ‘Hey, is your mom home? I need to talk to her.’ He got very hesitant and I said again, ‘I need to talk to your mother. Is she home?’ He hesitated again and he said ‘no.’”
According to the woman, the 8-year-old then told her his mother wasn’t planning to come home to Suffolk until Monday.
“I said, ‘Monday?’ and I said, ‘Who is staying with you?’ He said, ‘Nobody, I’m home alone.’ And then I said, ‘You’re home by yourself?’ He said, ‘Yes, my mom said I was old enough because I took Taekwondo.’”
She said the boy told her he had pre-made corned beef hash and pizza for food along with a cell phone to check in with his mom every hour. The boy told her he was to keep her travels a secret.
“He said his mother had told him that she would spank him until he could not sit down if he told anybody,” said the woman.
Police were at Moret’s home near the 100 block of Windsor Court for more than six hours Saturday night, according to the woman. She said there’s still many questions running through her mind.
“How many times have I looked and seen no vehicle in the driveway, and now I wonder if he was inside by himself,” said the woman. “It is very frightening.”
She said she’s relieved the boy was able to get help before a potentially dangerous situation and she’s hopeful Moret will be held accountable.
“If that’s the parenting that she is going to display, she needs to be retrained and be given the privilege back at a later time.”
Moret bonded out of the Western Tidewater Regional Jail on Saturday. The 8-year-old remains in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Listen I obviously don’t think Kionna should get a mother of the year mug or anything but a little context is needed in this story. Lets start from weak to strongest point here.
Two states away SOUNDS extreme but in reality its not the worst.Going from Virginia to South Caroline is like 5 and half hours drive. Here in South Florida you could barely leave the state in that distance of time depending on your starting point. Saying she went two states away is just a ploy to make her case sound even worse. Its Ft. Laudy to Gainesville distance, not THAT bad if you ask me.
Look at that neighborhood! Its like in Home Alone when they say nothings gonna happen because they live on the most boring neighborhood on the block. Its really kind of a paradox, these safe looking neighborhoods with the picket fence where almost nothing happens and the next thing you know the neighbors getting arrested for child neglect but in NYC you see tenement housing literally being run by little bastard children and out on subways on their own by the time they can walk and read basic english. Im sure this kid knows how to lock the doors and dial 911, which from the looks of that house and neighborhood, probably would never need to call. Id love to be home alone in that nice house.
Kionna’s been criticized enough so Im gonna give her the benefit of the doubt and say she atleast is a somewhat decent cook/can order pizza pretty well. Corned beef hash? sign me up. Breakfast loaded with your meat and potatoes that can fill you up past lunch for sure. Pizza? its like literally the healthiest thing anyone probably eats on the weekend. If you get a nice plain cheese pie its technically vegetarian soo this kids meal his mother set for him is pretty much a balanced diet to me. Not to mention the cell phone check up every hour. Shit sometimes Im too poor on the weekend to order pizza and i definitely don’t get any loving phone calls from my mother.
The kid knows taekwondo. As fas as I know he didnt have a gun where he could potentially kill himself from misuse, but what he did have was the knowledge and training to subdue any potential threat that walks through that door
But most of all its Memorial day weekend. The reason we celebrate is to honor those who served in the military, and guess what, those same kids back then wanted to, no. Had to be a man of the house by 8 years old. And whats more irresponsible, Kid in the safe confines of a nice suburban home with food and technology or at some party that could potentially get violent or risk a child consuming alcohol or on the roads where there are drunk drivers? The answer is the kid in the safe house.
The Ugly Orange 