A couple vacationing in Florida was arrested after being found passed out on the beach, children gone
A Georgia couple was arrested after being found asleep on a Florida beach, with their children nowhere to be found, authorities said.
An anonymous caller in Daytona Beach reported the couple to 911 on Saturday, and it took a Volusia Sheriffs Office deputy multiple attempts to wake the two up, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital. They were later identified as Alyssia Langley and Timothy Stephens, both 27.
Body camera footage obtained by FOX 35 Orlando shows Stephens motioning towards the ocean after being asked by deputies where their kids were. The arrest affidavit noted that there was an open beer can found near Stephens’ hand, multiple empty beer cans and an empty bottle of whiskey in a cooler nearby, “and other various, unsealed alcoholic beverages in the immediate vicinity.”
“It just boggles my mind that you would drive here and get obliterated and allow a 5- and a 7-year-old to wander off,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood told the local station.
The two children were found swimming unsupervised but safe in a hotel pool nearby.
Langley Stephens were both arrested. The two are engaged to be married, FOX 35 reported, and the arrest affidavit says that Stephens is not the biological father of the children, but has “assumed a legal guardian role.” Stephens had to be treated at a hospital before being taken to jail after a failed attempt to escape from deputies caused him to face-plant on the ground.
“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 5-year-old or a 7-year-old,” Chitwood said.
Langley and Stephens were charged with child neglect. Stephens also faces charges for trying to escape and alcoholic beverages on the beach, according to online arrest records.
