A Georgia couple was arrested on Saturday in Daytona Beach, Florida, after Volusia County authorities found them passed out intoxicated on the beach with their two young children missing.
The deputies were called to the scene after an anonymous 911 call, and the arrest affidavit said it took one deputy eight attempts to wake up Alyssia Langley and Timothy Stephens, both 27.
Body cam footage showed the deputies asking the pair where the kids were, but they did not seem to know. Stephens, at one point, went to the water’s edge and called out for them.
“You don’t know where they are?” the deputy asked.
“I went and read the report, and I’m like, ‘You got to be kidding me,’” Sheriff Mike Chitwood told Fox35 Orlando about the incident.
“It just boggles my mind that you would drive here and get obliterated and allow a five- and a seven-year-old to wander off,” he said.
The children were later found swimming without supervision at a hotel pool nearby—safe but in a potentially dangerous situation.
The deputies arrested Ms. Langley and Mr. Stephens, but Mr. Stephens had to be treated at a hospital nearby after trying to escape the deputies and falling on the ground, knocking himself unconscious.
Both were charged with felony child neglect, and Mr. Stephens was also charged with escape and having alcohol on the beach, online arrest records showed. Ms. Langley was released without bond, and Mr. Stephens was released on minimal bond less than 24 hours after his arrest.
The couple is engaged to be married, and although Mr. Stephens is not the childrens’ biological father, he has taken on a legal guardianship role.
Mr. Chitwood was skeptical of the parents’ ability to take care of the children, however.
“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 five-year-old or a seven-year-old,” Mr. Chitwood said.
It was unclear whether the children were placed in protective services or had returned to the couple.
It is spring break in Florida, and many beaches are flooded with partying teens and twentysomethings.
At least two Florida beaches have seen gun incidents in the last several days. Multiple incidents, including an “active shooter” situation in Jacksonville Beach, killed one person and injured three others on St. Patrick’s Day.
Police evacuated the bars in the area and instituted a lockdown, which was lifted around 11 p.m. that night. None of the shooters involved in any of the incidents are in custody, and police are still investigating.
In New Smyrna Beach, only miles from Daytona, a 16-year-old was arrested for pulling a gun on a crowd of other spring breakers, according to deputies.
Volusia County deputies were patrolling the beach mid-afternoon when they heard people shouting, “He has a gun!”
“They observed our desperado pointing a gun at another individual,” Mr. Chitwood told News 6. “He then looks up and sees the deputies and takes a long run along the water’s edge.”
Mr. Chitwood said that the teen ran through “massive crowds” still holding the gun, then finally went into the ocean and threw his gun and a black satchel into the water.
He then surrendered to the authorities. When the gun and satchel were recovered, a large quantity of marijuana was found in the satchel.
“What I have here is a little desperado out of Orange County. Armed. Decides to come to our beach because he’s here to sell drugs,” Mr. Chitwood said.
The teen faces numerous charges and will be tried as an adult, state attorney R.J. Larizza said.
Mr. Chitwood, state attorney general Ashley Moody, and other officials are expected to issue a warning Tuesday to spring breakers in the county.
