Fla. mother banned from having more children after leaving hers alone

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BARTOW, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A Florida mother was banned from giving birth for a dozen years after police said she left her four children alone in a hotel room while she went out partying.

A judge in the central Florida town of Bartow told Kimberly Lightsey, 30, she could not have any more children until the year 2025, the Lakeland Ledger reported during the weekend.

Authorities said Lightsey's children, between the ages of 1 and 11, were left unattended in a hotel room in nearby Winter Haven.

One of the children is epileptic and has cerebral palsy and brain damage and needs constant care, investigators said.

Hotel guests had called police after the children were heard crying.

Lightsey was on probation for a 2009 conviction on child-abuse charges at the time of her arrest in October 2011.

The judge placed Lightsey on two years' house arrest and prohibited unsupervised contact with children

Relatives are now caring for her children.