A Florida mother was arrested after she allegedly left her three kids inside an old school bus to smoke pot with a man.
Authorities arrested Andrea Kerins, 33, on Saturday in Gulfport for alleged child neglect while officials took custody of her children ages 3, 6, and 9.
Kerins was accused of abandoning the children after a Gulfport police officer found the kids inside the school bus parked by the beach at 4:42 a.m.
The children told Officer Christopher Priest that their mother left late the previous evening on a boat and had no way of reaching her, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“They learned she had been smoking marijuana and that she intended to spend the night on the boat,” Gulfport police Sgt. Thomas Woodman said.
After searching dozens of boats in the area, Gulfport marine patrol found Kerins aboard a boat owned by 46-year-old Yuri Radzibabam.
Patrol members said Kerins was smoking pot.
Meanwhile, the three children were left to their own devices on the abandoned school bus. When officers conducted a search of the bus, they found a refrigerated bin of perishable food along with a five-gallon bucket that was used as a toilet and a propane tank.
The children also had no spare clothing, police said.
Authorities charged Kerins with three counts of felony child neglect and booked her into the Pinellas County Jail. The Florida Department of Children and Families has custody of the children, WTSP reported.
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