Florida Mom Thought Child Was 'Acting Crazy,' Doctors Claim 2-Year-Old Was 'Tweaking': Sheriff

News By TooFab Staff |
Levy County Sheriff's Office

The woman allegedly brought her kid to the emergency room, saying the child was "bouncing off the walls" -- before the mom ended up in cuffs.

A "tweaking" 2-year-old child led to the arrest of their mother, 29-year-old Florida woman Debra Scott ... this, according to local authorities.

The Levy County Sheriff's Office confirmed Scott was arrested and charged this week with felony child neglect, following an incident at a local hospital last Friday, March 21.

At the time, authorities claim Scott walked into an emergency room with her 2-year-old child, claiming the kid was "'acting crazy" swinging her arms erratically, bouncing off the walls and had not slept all night." It didn't take long for an exam to determine the child was exhibiting the same symptoms as someone "tweaking" from drug use, said the sheriff.

"Lab reports confirmed the child was suffering from an acute intoxication due to an exposure to methamphetamines or other stimulant," alleges the press release. "Additional testing was performed and the child also tested positive for exposure to opiates."

It was then that medical staff alerted authorities and an investigation between the Levy County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Children and Family Services into Scott began. The investigation allegedly determined Scott recently moved to town "into a home known for prior narcotic activity," before the mother, authorities say, "admitted to Detectives that she recently used methamphetamines."

The Sheriff's Office claims the mother began seeing symptoms in her child "some 12 hours" before bringing the 2-year-old to the hospital, never calling 911 and instead calling "a friend for a ride to a hospital well away from where she was living."

Authorities slammed Scott for, as they say, "knowingly [putting] her child at risk and [failing] to protect the child from dangerous drugs while using dangerous drugs herself."

She was arrested Tuesday and booked into Gilchrist County Jail.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.