Ontario woman charged and fined after leaving children at their grandparents' house while getting groceries

An Ontario mother was fined $880 after leaving her children at her in-laws' home while she went to do grocery shopping.

According to CTV News, Natasha Kohl left her three children at their grandparents' because her fiancé was unable to help her.

"He wasn't able to help me and it was actually my birthday, so I wanted to get home so I could spend the night with him and my kids, so I took them to my father-in-law," Kohl said.

Kohl said she ate lunch at her in-laws' with their uncles and cousins who live in the house. Kohl was pulled over by police moments later.

"He turned on his lights and pulled us over and my daughter said, 'Why is he pulling us over?' and I said, 'I don’t know,' so I waited for him to come to the window and that's when he said they had complaints of high traffic in the house," Kohl told Global News.

Police say that Kohl was not complying with the Reopening Ontario Act.

"It was determined that police were contacted after several people were seen at the residence. Officers attending the area subsequently stopped a vehicle seen leaving and conducted an investigation," a statement from the OPP Norfolk country detachment said.

The OPP said in a statement that Kohl was not charged for leaving her children at their grandparents', but rather she was charged "with violating the Reopening Ontario Act."

Kohl told Global News that she wants Ontario to release clarifications on lockdown laws that everybody can easily understand.

"From my understanding child care was not taken out, so if you had to take your kids to daycare or you had to have a family member watch your kids, I thought that you were allowed to," said Kohl.

Kohl is planning to fight the ticket, and says some paralegals are offering to represent her for free.