Mom who police say drank alcohol with 15-year-old arrested
Police arrested a woman early Wednesday in Daytona Beach after she reportedly drank alcohol with her underage daughter and did not initially seek medical assistance when the girl became ill.
Theresa A. Adkins, 35, was detained at the Days Inn at 544 S. Ridgewood Ave. about 12:55 a.m., said Lyda Longa, the Daytona Beach Police Department’s spokeswoman.
Adkins’ 13-year-old daughter told an officer her 15-year-old sister had been ill for about two hours, vomiting and shaking. At some point, the younger girl instructed Adkins to notify emergency medical personnel, but Adkins said “she could not call yet,” the 13-year-old and authorities said.
Instead, Adkins attempted to relax the 15-year-old daughter by placing her in a bathtub. Eventually, she called authorities after the girl continued to vomit, her younger daughter said.
Adkins declined to give a responding officer her version of events, according to the affidavit.
The 15-year-old was unconscious when emergency medical personnel got to the scene and was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center. In the ambulance, the girl said she and her mother had been drinking alcohol together, police said.
At the hospital, the 15-year-old told authorities that while at her grandfather’s house, she took a bottle of alcohol. Theresa was aware of the theft and started drinking the Jack Daniel’s with her daughter after they returned to the motel, according to the affidavit. Adkins had been living at the Days Inn with her daughters, Longa said.
Adkins’ 13-year-old daughter was placed in the custody of her grandmother, who lives in Daytona Beach.
Adkins remains in custody on charges of child abuse, neglect of a child and contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a minor, according to jail records. She is being held at the Volusia County Jail on $20,000 bond.