Mother Receives 2 New Felony Charges in ‘Home Alone’ Case

A Placentia mother accused of leaving her young children home alone while she took trips to North Carolina and London was charged Thursday with abandoning the youngsters during a pair of weeklong trips to China last year.

The new charges stem from trips Janet Hseuh Chen, 31, took to China in April and again in August, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Karen Schatzle.

In all, the woman left her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter alone in an apartment four times while traveling, out of the state or the country, authorities said.

The children fended for themselves by following a detailed survival guide the mother had left, according to authorities.

Chen faces eight felony counts of child abuse and could be sentenced to a maximum of 17 years in prison if convicted. She is being held on $50,000 bail.

During a brief court appearance Thursday at the North Justice Center in Fullerton, Chen -- dressed in a navy blue jail-issued jumpsuit -- did not speak and was ordered to return for a pretrial hearing March 12.

Chen’s attorney, Public Defender Linda Hewitt, declined to comment.

Chen was arrested Jan. 8 when she returned home from a 19-day trip to North Carolina where she had flown, allegedly to visit a man she had met on the Internet.

Authorities say she left her son and daughter with a stockpile of cereal, milk, frozen dinners and corn dogs, and instructed them to keep trash in the refrigerator so it would not attract insects.

Neighbors became concerned and called police after they spotted the 4-year-old boy peering from a window.

They said they noticed a delivery notice left at the front door went untouched for a week.

Chen told authorities that she left the children with her sister during a 10-day trip to London over the Thanksgiving holidays.

But prosecutors said that the children were taken out of classes and left alone to fend for themselves.

Authorities said the children have been temporarily placed in a foster home that specializes in keeping siblings together until they are placed with families.