A mother of four has been charged with four counts of child endangerment after she allegedly left her young children alone in the house with a gun while she jetted off on an 11-day holiday to Europe.
Erin Lee Macke, 30, allegedly left her 12-year-old twins and her other children, aged seven and six, 'because her babysitting options fell through', reports the Mirror.
Credit: erinmacke1/Instagram
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The young mother is also charged with handing over a firearm to a person under 21 after she left them with a pistol before boarding her flight from the US to Germany.
Macke, who resides in the state of Iowa, took to social media in the first days of her trip to post pictures and updates of her travels.
Credit: erinmacke1/Instagram
Credit: erinmack1/Instagram
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The father of one of the children was contacted by his child the day after Macke left the country, and he tipped off police that the children had been left unsupervised.
According to the Mail Online, police said they had contacted Macke on September 21 after receiving the tip off, but she told them she was going to be away until October 1.
Credit: Polk County Jail
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However, she returned earlier than planned and was arrested on Thursday.
Lt. Tyler Tompkins said: "I've never heard of anything like this before.
"We have situations where parents go next door or parents may go out for the night, and while that's not advisable either depending on the age of the children, obviously leaving the country is a totally different situation.
"This, where a parent has left the country and left the kids home alone, I've never heard of it before.
"They were concerned, they didn't know, they were confused," Lt Tompkins said of the youngsters. "I mean, we're only talking about 12-year-olds being the adults here."
Macke has been stopped from seeing her children who are now in the care of relatives.
She remains in custody on a bond of $9000 (£6,700).Featured Image Credit: Polk County JailTopics: Jail