ORLANDO, Fla. _ A Florida mom was arrested Saturday after she left three children on a mini school bus overnight so she could smoke marijuana with a man on a boathouse, according to the Gulfport Police Department.
Andrea L. Kerins was arrested and faces multiple felony charges of child neglect.
Officer Christopher Priest was on patrol near the Gulfport municipal beach parking lot at 4:42 a.m. when he noticed the mini-bus, said GPD's Sgt. Thomas Woodman. Gulfport is located near St. Petersburg in Pinellas County.
Checking inside Priest found three children of the ages 3, 6 and 9 who told the officer their mother left them at around 9 p.m. the night before to go out on a boat, Woodman said.
GPD launched a search of the area of anchored boats off shore and found Kerins on board a vessel owned by a 46-year-old man named Yuri Radzibaba.
An additional search of the bus revealed a bin of mostly perishable food that had been left unrefrigerated, a five-gallon bucket near the front door that was designated as a makeshift toilet and a propane tank inside the passenger area, Woodman said.
Images show beds made in the back of the bus.
The children were taken by Florida Department of Children and Families until addition accommodations can be made.
