This is one story that can’t be pinned on Florida — or at least not Floridians.
An “obliterated” couple from Georgia was arrested on the “World’s Most Famous Beach” over the weekend and charged with child neglect after an anonymous caller reported them to 911.
Alyssia Langley and Timothy Stephens, both 27, were fast asleep, if not passed out, and their two young children were nowhere to be found, WOFL Fox 35 reported.
According to the arrest affidavit, a responding Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputy had to make multiple attempts to stir the couple. The affidavit noted an open beer can found near Stephens’ hand, multiple empty beer cans, and an empty bottle of whiskey in a cooler nearby. There were also “other various, unsealed alcoholic beverages in the immediate vicinity.”
Stephens can be seen motioning towards the ocean in body camera footage obtained by the Fox affiliate, after being asked by deputies where their kids were.
“It just boggles my mind that you would drive here and get obliterated and allow a 5- and a 7-year-old to wander off,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood told Fox 35.
“When we wonder what we see, why kids are the way they are, you gotta take a step back and look at who’s in charge. And clearly, these two clowns shouldn’t be in charge of … they can’t be in charge of themselves, let alone a 5-year-old or a 7-year-old,” the sheriff added.
Fortunately, the children were found swimming unsupervised but safe in a hotel pool nearby.
The couple is reportedly engaged to be married, and the arrest affidavit said that Stephens is not the biological father of the children, but has “assumed a legal guardian role.”
Stephens’ face is battered in his mug shot. Fox 35 reported that it’s because he tried to escape from deputies and face-planted into the ground in his failed attempt — he was treated at a hospital before being taken to jail.
In addition to the aforementioned child neglect charge, Stephens was also hit with an escape charge and for having alcoholic beverages on the beach, according to online arrest records.
“If you don’t want to be responsible for your children, and that’s what you want to do, then find someone to watch them and come on vacation without them,” a vacationer staying nearby told the Fox affiliate of the arrest.
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Author: Tom Tillison
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