Two children left alone at home were trying to light an incense in a stove Saturday night when their apartment caught on fire. Now, their mother has been arrested and is charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child.
Monrovia Brown sits behind bars Monday at Orleans Parish Prison. She faces two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child.
The back side of the Brown family apartment on Americus Street in Algiers is badly charred. Flames tore through the apartment just before 10:00 Saturday night, while two little girls were trapped inside.
Neighbor Juanita Ogden said, "Somebody kicked in the door to get the babies out."
Both girls were unconscious and taken to the hospital.
Rev. Alvin Mosley says he and his wife have been helping to take care of Monrovia Brown and her twin six-year-old daughters for the past two years, explaining, "I fed them a lot. I fed her and her children. That was out of the kindness of my heart, with my ministry. And I loaned her money until she got paid."
Mosley says he's angry that Brown left the kids alone while she went to work. But many of the family's neighbors say they're not surprised something like this happened. Several people on Americus Street tell FOX 8 they called authorities in the months leading up to the fire to complain about the way Brown was allegedly treating her kids.
"It needed to be done because it was only fair for the kids, you know, the well-being of the kids," said neighbor Donya Townsend.
Townsend lives across the street from Brown and saw her just hours before the fire.
"I walked across the street with her and I was like, what are you burning? I smell something burning. She said 'I burned chicken.' It smelled like burned chicken and grease," Townsend said.
She says Brown then left to go to work at Harrah's Casino. Townsend asked Brown where the girls were and says Brown told her they were at her friend's house.
That wasn't the case. Firefighters found the kids locked in the apartment. One was in a closet, the other in a bathroom.
Rev. Mosley said, "I think she should've taken more precaution on the children because I really cared.. I just left the hospital and just prayed for the children."
Rev. Mosley says he visited with the girls in the hospital Monday and they appear to be recovering well. The residents on Americus Street say they hope the kids will be taken away from Monrovia Brown and put into a safe home.
FOX 8 reached out to the Department of Children and Family Services but a spokesperson tells us state law prohibits them from saying whether there have been complaints filed against Monrovia Brown.
Monrovia Brown
