Davenport woman accused of leaving child behind at gas station while drunk

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Polk County woman was arrested Wednesday after deputies say she lost track of two children she was caring for while heavily intoxicated.

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Deputies were called to the WaWa on Highway 27 in Davenport after employees there reported that a child had been abandoned at the gas station.

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They told the deputies a woman, identified as 27-year-old Samantha DiCastro, was there trying to buy cigarettes with two children and was obviously very drunk.

One employee reported seeing a bottle of Bacardi rum tucked into DiCastro waistband.

When the clerks denied DiCastro service, deputies say she exited the store with a two-year-old child in her arms, but left an eight-year-old there.

According to her arrest report, Deputies found DiCastro as she was walking home along the highway while still carrying the two-year-old.

The responding deputies also noted DiCastro appeared to be clearly intoxicated.

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According to the arrest report, at one point she placed the toddler on the ground and began looking for him shortly afterward, even though the child was still in the same place she’d left him.

While in custody, deputies say DiCastro stated that she didn’t feel she had to care for the child left at the WaWa.

Deputies determined they had cause to charge DiCastro with two counts of negligent child abuse.

She was also charged with disorderly intoxication, and resisting deputies for repeatedly trying to continue walking home after she’d been told she wasn’t free to leave the scene.

“This situation is scary enough, but realize that this occurred along a very busy highway,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “We are thankful that these children weren’t injured or worse.”

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DiCastro was taken to the Polk County jail and has since been released on bond.

The children were turned over to a parent.

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