Florida mom charged after two sons drown in pool

By: Lee B.

A Florida mom has been charged in the deaths of her two young sons, who drowned in a pool after playing unsupervised for about two hours, according to authorities.

Branario Minto, 5, and Ja’Kye Joseph, 6, were found by a relative submerged in a community pool at a North Lauderdale condominium in May, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

The brothers were pulled from the water and raced to a local hospital but could not be saved.

Surveillance showed the boys completely unsupervised as they played by the pool hours earlier, officers said. Investigators believe the boys may have climbed a fence to reach the pool, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“The brothers had been submerged under water for almost two hours prior to being found,” the sheriff’s office said.

Mom Wildline Liline Joseph, 23, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter of a child.

“Detectives said Joseph failed to provide proper care and supervision for the brothers, which made her responsible for their deaths,” the department said.

Joseph’s boyfriend, John Louis Lynn Jr., 24, had been arrested Tuesday on the same charges. He is not the biological father of either boy but was living with Joseph at the time, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The couple’s two other children, a 1-year-old and a baby, were removed from their home in May as part of the death investigation, the paper stated.

Lynn and Joseph were booked into the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on $500,000 bond each.