A Florida couple have been arrested on felony child-neglect charges after their six-month-old daughter was found unresponsive and later recorded with a blood alcohol level of 0.383, according to an arrest affidavit.
Desirea Uzunboylu and Jessie Waldroup, from Port Richey in Pasco County, were taken into custody on 17 September following the incident, which happened on 8 September.
The couple’s seven-year-old son had returned home from school and found his baby sister unresponsive in a playpen, while his parents were asleep in the living room, investigators said. He woke them and they called emergency services.
First responders found the baby breathing but not responding. She was flown to a children’s trauma hospital, where doctors described her condition as critical but stable and said she might have died without urgent treatment.
Baby’s bottle had a strong smell of alcohol
Investigators said the infant’s blood alcohol level was 0.383, a potentially fatal level. Medical staff also recorded bruising to her head, thigh and abdomen, with the abdominal injury described in the affidavit as highly suspicious for non-accidental trauma.
The cause of the bruising has not been established. Uzunboylu reportedly told investigators that the mark on the baby’s abdomen was a rash known to the family’s paediatrician, but deputies said medical records contained no previous report of such a condition.
According to the affidavit, both parents initially denied using alcohol or drugs and said they did not know how alcohol had entered their daughter’s system. They later told investigators the family had visited a beach with relatives the previous day.
A family member reportedly brought vodka in a water bottle and left it inside a backpack while swimming. Investigators said Uzunboylu and Waldroup acknowledged that the bottle may have been used to prepare the baby’s feed, while the seven-year-old told deputies he had seen Waldroup give the infant a bottle at the beach.
Deputies later found the bottle at the family home, where it allegedly gave off a strong smell of alcohol. Officers also reported finding wine and a shot of liquor in the property, despite the parents’ claims that they did not drink and kept no alcohol there.
The Child Protection Team concluded that the child’s injuries and condition were consistent with neglect and abuse, the affidavit states. Investigators said both parents had been responsible for the baby when she ingested the alcohol and that inadequate supervision had resulted in serious injury.
Uzunboylu and Waldroup each face a felony charge of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm. Court records show that both posted $10,000 bail and were barred from contacting the child while the case proceeds.
The allegations have not been tested in court, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
