Vacationing mom avoids jail for leaving young kids at home

The Iowa mother packed her bags and boarded a plane bound for Europe.

Last September, Erin Lee Macke had planned to spend 11 days visiting relatives in Germany, but police said she left four other family members at home alone — her then-12-year-old twins and 6- and 7-year-old daughters.

“She felt comfortable that the kids were responsible enough to take care of themselves during that duration,” Lt. Lynn Aswegan, with the Johnston (Iowa) Police Department, told People magazine at the time.

Macke, 31, entered an Alford plea, in which she acknowledged that the government had enough evidence to convict her of four counts of child endangerment, but denied guilt. She was sentenced Thursday to two years’ probation, avoiding possible prison time, according to the Des Moines Register.

It was a Wednesday in September when Macke jetted off on a European vacation — one that, by all indications, was “a social venture,” the police lieutenant said.

Court documents state that Macke planned to have neighbors check in on her children from Sept. 20-22 until her brother was available to watch them. Then she would return Oct. 1.

After the children spent a night alone in their home near Des Moines, one child’s father reported the incident to police when he received a phone call from the child, according to the newspaper.

When officers arrived the evening of Sept. 21, they found the twins preparing a meal for their younger sisters, Aswegan told People. Aswegan said one of the 12-year-olds led officers to the mother’s bedroom, where she had left a gun and ammunition.

Police alerted child protective services and got in touch with Macke, who reportedly had been posting photos from the Danube River and the Walhalla memorial in Germany.

Police told the mother to fly back home. She did — a full week later — and was promptly arrested.

Matthew Macke, the father of the two younger children, was granted primary custody of them; arrangements are still being determined for the two older children, who have a different father.