{"id":409140,"date":"2026-09-24T10:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T10:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409140\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T10:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T10:22:20","slug":"florida-couple-arrested-after-6-month-old-daughter-hospitalized-with-bac-of-0-383-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409140\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida couple arrested after 6-month-old daughter hospitalized with BAC of 0.383 \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"

A west-central Florida couple is accused of child neglect after their 6-month-old daughter was hospitalized with a potentially fatal blood alcohol level of 0.383, according to online court documents.<\/p>\n

According to Pasco County online court records, Jessie Lee Waldroup, 36, and Denise Leann Uzunboylu, 27, both of Port Richey, were arrested on Sept. 17. They were charged with a felony count of child neglect with great bodily harm.<\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit, the baby was found unresponsive on Sept. 8 by her 7-year-old brother, who alerted his parents. First responders examined the baby, who was breathing but still unresponsive.<\/p>\n

Court records stated that the child was airlifted to a children\u2019s trauma center, where it was discovered that the girl had a blood-alcohol level of 0.383.<\/p>\n

WFLA<\/a>, citing data from the Cleveland Clinic, reported that any BAC level above 0.30 is likely to result in alcohol poisoning and could be fatal.<\/p>\n

Medical personnel told police that the child was \u201ccritical but stable\u201d and that she likely would have died if medical attention had been delayed for much longer, according to the television station.<\/p>\n

The boy had come home from school and his parents were sleeping in the living room, the arrest affidavit stated. When he checked on his sister in a bedroom, the girl was in her playpen but \u201cwas not acting right or responding.\u201d That is when he roused his parents.<\/p>\n

Waldroup and Uzunboylu initially denied using drugs or alcohol and said they did not know how the child had alcohol in her system, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

Uzunboylu later admitted that on Sept. 7, the family went to the beach with other family members, the affidavit stated. She added that a family member put vodka in a water bottle and that Waldroup — her boyfriend and the baby\u2019s father — must have used that container to make a bottle for the child.<\/p>\n

Waldroup also corroborated that story, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

What originally appeared as a rash on the child\u2019s abdomen was later diagnosed as bruising, the affidavit stated. While the cause was unknown, police said it was \u201chighly suspicious for non-accidental trauma based on the location and appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uzunboylu claimed the girl was suffering from a rash, adding that her pediatrician was aware of it. However, police interviewed the physician, who claimed there were no records of a rash reported to his office.<\/p>\n

The child also had bruising to her head and thigh, police said.<\/p>\n

The child\u2019s bottle was located inside the family\u2019s home with a \u201cstrong smell of an alcoholic beverage\u201d emitting from it. Both parents confirmed the bottle was the only one the child uses, the affidavit stated. <\/p>\n

Waldroup and Uzunboylu each posted $10,000 bail, online booking records show. According to court records, they are prohibited from having contact with the victim.<\/p>\n

Bryant Camareno, an attorney who is not affiliated with the case, told WFLA<\/a> that if the defendants are found guilty, they could face penalties ranging from five years to 30 years \u201cdepending on the severity of the injuries.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A west-central Florida couple is accused of child neglect after their 6-month-old daughter was hospitalized with a potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[162464,162466,162468,111887,88424,162467,4164,265,162463,116,118,117,162462,162465],"class_list":["post-409140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-0-383","tag-6-month-old-girl","tag-alcohol-in-baby-bottle","tag-bac","tag-blood-alcohol-content","tag-bryant-camareno","tag-child-neglect","tag-crime","tag-denise-leann-uzunboylu","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jessie-lee-waldroup","tag-pasco-county-court-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}