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Mother Charged With Child Neglect For Taking Baby To Bar

Eyewitnesses said a Lake County mother took her baby into a bar and, when she was told to leave, she went out to her car and passed out with the baby inside.

Holly Annette Bacon

Customers at the Shamrock Lounge said Holly Bacon was so out of it that they were able to take her baby and his carrier out of the back seat without her even noticing. They called it outrageous, while police called it neglect.

"She came in and the bartender told her to leave. She had an infant in the carrier," said eyewitness Lucy Sandstedt.

The young mother walked right back outside. The bartender said the woman already seemed drunk.

"How'd she drive here? That's the thing that amazes me, she was lucky and the baby, this is a terrible risk for a baby," said bar owner Katie Zuccaro.

But it was not nearly as risky as what they saw next. Forty minutes later, Linda Herald was on her way out of the bar when she noticed the mother and baby inside a white car.

"I was petrified, because it's hot and here's a baby in the car and mother passed out," said Herald.

The bartender called 911 while customers took the baby out of the car, carrier and all. They said Bacon never woke up.

"The fact that she just slept through that entire event, if that child was in any kind of trouble at all, it's pretty obvious she wouldn't have been aware of it," said Captain Steve Rockefeller, Leesburg Police Department.

Police arrested her for child neglect, finding an empty beer can next to an empty baby bottle in the car. Bacon's parents are already caring for her older son. Now they have her baby as well.

"She's an excellent mother, it's just her company. She's got some sleazy company and I don't know how to get her away from 'em," said Jim Bacon, the suspect's father.

Police said Bacon was also on prescription medication for seizures, which could have strengthened the effect of the alcohol. She was booked in the Lake County jail on $5,000 bond.
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