Farewell To All That Domesticity

Off to California to find a stripper pole:

An Arizona mom was arrested as she packed up for a future as a California stripper because she intended to leave her two young children behind, police said today.

Christina Muniz was arrested as she packed up for California with her boyfriend because she intended to leave her two young children behind, police said today.

And when her 11-year-old son tried to hug her before their separation, she made a fist and punched him in the stomach, according to police reports.

...Police in Surprise, Ariz., were called to the house by Christina Muniz's 11-year-old son at 9 a.m. on June 11. He said his mother was leaving him behind along with his 6-year-old brother.

"The boy stated his mom is in the house packing with her boyfriend, and that she is going to California without them," Sgt. Mark Ortega, of the Surprise police department told ABC News.

...Police said the woman, 29, was abandoning her two boys because she said she was sick of them, and wanted to finally be able to pursue her dream of becoming a stripper.

...According to Ortega, when Burtrum asked the boy if he believed his mother would leave him like that, the boy told him yes.

"He said all she cares about is her boyfriend and drinking wine," Ortega said.

Ortega said after Burtrum spoke to the boy in private, he found Muniz sitting at her dining room table drinking what he believed to be wine.

"She said it was the only way to cope with the kids," Ortega said.

..."To see somebody so readily wanting to be so abusive, and to the very end the boy was looking for affection. To think he's endured this for his whole life, I hope he gets some normality somewhere," Ortega said.

Muniz appeared in court Monday, and according to police told the judge it was "all a big misunderstanding," and she denied she ever punched her son. She is being held on $20,000 bond and could not be reached for comment.