Authorities said when the parents of 9-year-old twin boys left for Nigeria their uncle, who was supposed to look after them, allegedly left them alone in their parent’s apartment for months.
CNN noted that police said the twins’ uncle Giobari Atura, 25, was entrusted by the parents to care for the boys, but allegedly left them in the apartment alone for days at a time. Atura allegedly told children to call him from a neighbor’s phone if they needed anything such as food. But when school officials got the Division of Children, Youth and Families involved, they said there was no edible food in the house.
Every day for several months, when they were alone, the boys woke themselves up, got dressed, got on the bus and went to school, where they ate breakfast and lunch.
One of the boys’ told investigators that he sometimes felt lonely at the apartment without his parents there.
The parents of the boys were supposed to return from Africa after about a month, but got held up with an illness and passport problems. They spoke to Atura on the phone while they were gone and got back to the states when learned that their children had been left alone.
The Associated Press reported that Atura was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and released on $500 bond.
The twins were in protective custody, but have since been returned to their parents.