Mother Receives Probation After Children Die In Fire

[TexasStooge]

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A Lancaster mother whose four children died in a house fire was put on probation for 10 years.

Denetris Lofton was convicted of reckless injury.

Prosecutors said Lofton left her sleeping children in her home with a candle burning. Investigators ruled the fire was an accident.

Neighbors testified it wasn't the first time Lofton left her children home alone. The children were ages 4 to 12.

Meanwhile in an unrelated case, a mother of three who had trouble walking and other medical problems died in a house fire Monday in Fort Worth.

Penny Lane Sanderson, 29, was alone in the home at the time of the blaze. She had sent her children -- ages 9, 7 and 4 -- to live with relatives when she began having seizures recently.

The fire was started by combustibles too close to a space heater, firefighters said. The home did not have a fire detector.

Firefighters found Sanderson's body in the living room near the front door, said Lt. Kent Worley, Fire Department spokesman.

Sanderson had pins placed in her legs after a wreck more than a year ago, friends say. Unable to work, she went on welfare to support her family.

"She inspired me," neighbor Crystal Garcia told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "She's lived a hard, hard life. She would always bring me up because she had such a positive outlook."

[Josephine96]

That woman got lucky. If it wasn't the 1st time she left them alone, then she probably should have been given a more severe penalty.

[blizzard]

With a twelve year old? THat kid should have been old enough to watch the other children. And how does anyone know for sure that the kids didn't light the candle. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending this woman. If she, in fact left the candle burning, maybe whe deserves this sentence. I leave my kids home alone alot. My 12 year old watches my 10 year old, that is perfectly legal.
Of course it depends also on the maturity level of the 12 yr. old.