Alexandra Woodward, a mother of 8- and 10-year-old boys in Calhoun, Georgia, has been charged with cruelty to children in the first degree. If found guilty, she faces a minimum of five years in prison. Her crime? Letting her kids stay home alone for a few hours. They were fine.
Here's what happened: On April 15, Woodward and her boys made dinner together, and then played a game of Sorry. The boys did their homework. Woodward put them to bed and told them she had to drive to a storage unit about an hour away. (Woodward was having foot surgery the next week and wanted to take care of things while she could walk.) The kids asked her to bring home a few of their possessions.
Woodward left with her boyfriend, John McHugh. About half an hour later, one of the boys called their dad, or their dad called the boys (accounts differ on this point). Either way, they told him that mom had gone to the storage unit. Their dad then called 9-1-1 to request a welfare check on them.
