A woman could face child endangerment charges after she allegedly left her children home alone while she traveled to Africa to marry a man she met on the Internet. Shnell Monique Mosley reportedly flew to Nigeria on Monday, leaving the kids – ages 1- to 9-years-old – with very little food and no money.

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The children were left alone at this home.

Harris County authorities first became aware of the situation when a deputy made a welfare check at a home Cypress on Wednesday. There, he found six children alone.

The deputy reported finding deplorable conditions in the home, including trash on the floor and roaches everywhere.

The children also didn’t have any clean clothes and very little food the sheriff’s office said. A 15-year-old girl, who arrived at the house hours after the deputy, told authorities that her mother left on New Year’s Eve and that she didn’t know how to reach her.

The teen girl told authorities her mother left her in charge of her younger siblings – three boys ages 1, 7 and 9 as well as an 8-year-old girl. She was also caring for a neighbor’s 3-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl the Houston Chronicle reported.

According to the Chronicle report, the neighbor said she drove Mosley to the airport for a one- to two-month trip to marry a man she met online.

The mother’s sister was supposedly to arrive by bus from New Orleans to care for the children.

Charges are pending against the mother.

The children have been taken into CPS custody.