A mother of three from Brooklyn wasn't about to let anything stop her from getting more tattoos -- not even the itty bitty little fact that her young children probably can't stay home alone for an entire night, at least not in the eyes of the law. Laura Aguero-Dupla, a 35-year-old middle school teacher, has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child after a neighbor heard a loud noise in her apartment and called 911. It led cops to the discovery that she and her husband left their three kids-- the youngest is 4 and the oldest is 12 -- so they could go out drinking and to get tattoos.
Aguero-Dupla and her husband, Alfredo Bobe, 41, reportedly decided to make a night of it when they visited a Manhattan tattoo parlor so the woman could have one of her tats finished, then stopped off at a bar. They would have probably gotten away with what they did, I mean, assuming that nothing happened to their children, God forbid, but then either their drinking or tempers probably got the best of them because they reportedly wound up having a raging fight at the bar.
Bobe reportedly left his wife and made his way back to their home, only to realize he had forgotten his keys inside. For some insane reason, he allegedly felt the best thing to do in this situation wasn't to wait for his wife to get home with a key, but to punch out the glass panel on the front door -- at around 2 in the morning.
The noise woke up a neighbor, who called 911. They reportedly found Bobe pacing outside of the apartment building and later arrested both Aguero-Dupla and her husband, whom they charged with criminal mischief and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Their children were taken away from them and are currently staying with a relative, according to police. Aguero-Dupla, meanwhile, has been pulled from her classroom.
The couple has been in trouble with the law before.
In 2011, Aguero-Dupla was charged with criminal mischief for reportedly punching a motorist and denting his car on purpose during an incident in which she was on her bicycle. Bobe has reportedly been arrested twice, including once for assault in 2003.
Although some states have imposed a minimum age in which children are legally allowed to stay home alone (and it's usually about 12), New York is not one of them. This leaves some of us to wonder whether what this couple did was illegal or just foolish. Or neither.
What do you think? Did this couple deserve to be arrested for leaving their three children home alone?
Image via THOR/Flickr