Young Mother Charged After Her 10-Month-Old Boy Recorded Sip

[Daanyeer]

Young Mother Charged After Her 10-Month-Old Boy Recorded Sipping Gin and Juice

Source: Fox News
June 23, 2007 Author: Unattributed

A 10-month-old boy in Florida was caught on videotape sipping a high-octane cocktail — gin and juice — and his mother and two relatives now are facing child abuse charges.

The boy's 16-year-old Brandenton, Fla., mother was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of child neglect without great bodily harm, and one count of child abuse without great bodily harm, both of which are felonies.

An aunt, Heather L. Moore, 21, and John D. Bell, 45, an uncle, were arrested Wednesday and each charged with one of child abuse without great bodily harm.

State authorities have taken custody of the child, now 13 months old, who reportedly has not suffered permanent health damages.

Assistant State Attorney Erica Arend, a spokeswoman for the Florida 12th Circuit State Attorney's Office, told FOXNews.com that police have filed the charges, and her office is considering them.

Because the mother is a juvenile, she is not subject to prison in the adult system, Arend said. The harshest penalty the mother likely would face is up to 14 months placement away from her home in a juvenile residential program, and she could remain under supervision of juvenile courts until her 22nd birthday.

Moore and Bell remained in jail on a $5,000 bond, a jail spokesperson told the AP. The child abuse charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

Police were alerted by the baby's grandmother, who found the videotape that was taken in April, The Associated Press reported. Police did not name the mother because she is a juvenile.

And according to the (Sarasota, Fla.) Herald-Tribune, police said the trio videotaped and photographed the boy walking toward them after drinking, and Bell afterward told police that he did not remember the incident because he was drunk.

Betty O’Neil, the boy's grandmother, told reporters that she believes he drank to the point of intoxication.

"It was deplorable," O'Neil told the newspaper Thursday. "They were fully aware of what they were doing."

Upon arrest, the mother was booked at the juvenile detention center and she remains detained after appearing in court Friday morning, the Associated Press reported.

“They were quite comfortable giving the child the liquor, having a good time, laughing,” Brandenton police Detective Valorie Shoates told the AP. “It really wasn’t a big deal to them.”

The young mother, a reported habitual runaway, was remorseful, Shoates said, and she said that she never meant to harm her child.

[Alluring]

16 with a child = a deadly combination.