Deputies arrest two adults after children found unsecured in U-Haul with drugs on North Dale Mabry
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says a 911 caller reported two unresponsive people in the van at a gas station. A family member took custody of the two children.
TAMPA - Hillsborough County deputies arrested two adults Saturday morning, Nov. 7, after finding two children unsecured in the back of a U-Haul van with drugs and prescription pills inside, the Sheriff's Office said in a release Sunday evening.
Deputies were called at 7:35 a.m. to a gas station in the 6300 block of North Dale Mabry Highway after a 911 caller reported two unresponsive people inside the van, according to the release. Deputies found a 46-year-old woman slumped in the passenger seat and her two children in the back.
As deputies approached the driver's side, the van began to roll forward, the Sheriff's Office said. Deputies told the 44-year-old driver to stop and get out, and said he had red, glossy eyes and was unsteady on his feet. He was arrested. Deputies said the woman appeared disoriented, and they found narcotics on the passenger seat when she got out. She was also arrested.
Deputies reported finding methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and several prescription pills in the van, including alprazolam, cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride and methocarbamol. The release says the methocarbamol, a muscle relaxant, was unsecured and within the children's reach, that the van had no child safety seats, and that the family appeared to have been living in it. A family member came to the scene and took custody of the children.
The woman is charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, two counts of child abuse and two counts of possession of a drug without a prescription, according to the Sheriff's Office. The man is charged with driving under the influence. Charges are accusations, and both are presumed innocent.
“Two children, no car seats, drugs within arm’s reach, and an impaired driver behind the wheel. These kids deserved better,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in the release. The Sheriff's Office called it an active investigation.
Source: HCSO release 26-187: HCSO arrests two people after kids found inside U-Haul, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (7:58 p.m. Nov. 8; opened Nov. 9). The people arrested are not named, per the paper's police-news rule.