Police: Mom left kids hungry and alone

PANAMA CITY — A 28-year-old mother who police said left her children “hungry and alone” in a hotel room Wednesday has been arrested and charged with child neglect, police said.

Valencia Rhodes returned to her room at the American Quality Lodge around 3:40 p.m. Wednesday and said she’d only been gone for a couple minutes, but employees had received a call from her children in the room more than two hours earlier.

Rhodes checked into her room the day before. Before she left she allegedly told her two children, ages 5 and 8, not to use the phone.

The Department of Children and Families took custody of children when Rhodes went to jail.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information about the case should contact Detective Kelly McLaughlin at 872-3100 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS (8477).