A Florida mom left her two young children ‘alone and crying’ in locked room, cops say

A Vero Beach woman was arrested after her baby and toddler were found locked inside a bedroom “alone and crying” in wet diapers around 1 a.m. Sunday, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office says.

A neighbor said the kids were alone for at least 30 minutes before the two deputies arrived, the incident report states. The landlord told law officers a neighbor notified him about the crying children, and when he opened the door he found the baby on an elevated mattress without any guard railings.

About 10 minutes later, the children’s 29-year-old mother, Leilani Lakeisha Foumai, returned home. The report states the woman, powerfully built at 5-7 and 352 pounds, became aggressive.

Pulling her hands away from a deputy she “immediately stuck them into the window of her vehicle, wrapping her hand around her seat belt to prevent handcuffing,” Deputy Andrew Ward wrote. “Leilani then turned towards me and began pushing against me with her chest.”

She then blew air and spit at both deputies’ faces, the report said.

Foumai now faces two counts of battery on an officer, two counts of resisting arrest with violence and two counts of misdemeanor child neglect. She also has an active warrant in St. Lucie County, according to the Indian River Sheriff’s Office’s online records.

This story was originally published July 1, 2019 at 7:11 PM.