Lake in the Hills home alone mom indicted on felony charges

A Lake in the Hills mother who pleaded guilty in January to leaving her children home alone to go to a bar, and then was arrested for doing it again 15 days later, was back in jail Thursday facing newly upgraded felony charges.

Randi L. Losch, 27, was indicted by a McHenry County grand jury on two counts of endangering the life or health of a child, Class 3 felonies punishable by two to five years in prison, or probation.

The charges stem from a Feb. 4 incident in which, authorities say, Losch left her 6- and 2-year-old daughters home alone for at least three hours while she was visiting a local tavern.

Police say they discovered the children were home alone when they stopped Losch on suspicion of drunken driving about 1:17 a.m. that morning. Neither girl was harmed.

The charges initially were brought as misdemeanors, but county prosecutors sought an upgrade before the grand jury.

"Our office chose to enhance the charges to felonies in part because the first conviction had been just 15 days prior to the commission of the new offense," said Nichole Owens, criminal division chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney.

Losch, of the 2600 block of Melbourne Lane, was arrested on the new indictment Wednesday, spent the night in the McHenry County jail and appeared in court Thursday morning, where a judge set her bond at $30,000.

She pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to two misdemeanor counts of endangering the life or health of a child stemming from a June 19 incident in which police said she left the girls unsupervised at about 11 p.m. while she went looking for her boyfriend at a Crystal Lake bar. The boyfriend came home about 30 minutes later to find the girls alone.

In related court action, a judge Feb. 26 granted a two-year protective order against Losch on her daughters' behalf. The order allows only supervised visitation between mother and daughters.

Losch, who also faces a DUI charge in the Feb. 4 incident, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=269842">Home Alone II: LITH woman jailed again on endangerment charges <span class="date">[2/5/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=225844">Lake in the Hills mom pleads not guilty in home alone case <span class="date">[8/5/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=210502">Woman left kids home alone to go looking for boyfriend, police say <span class="date">[6/20/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>