Inset: Maribel Plaza (Lake County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Lake County Detention Center in Tavares, Florida (Google Maps).
A Florida babysitter is facing a child neglect charge after police say she left a child alone while she went to her boyfriend’s home, and the child later tested positive for THC.
Maribel Plaza, 29, has been released on bond following her booking at the Lake County Jail on a child neglect charge. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Leesburg Police Department officers were contacted by medical staff at UF Health Hospital in Leesburg, Florida, at about 1:30 a.m. on June 19 after a neighbor brought the child in for treatment.
The neighbor told police the child had come to their door around 1 a.m., “begging” to be taken to the hospital after reportedly falling off a bed. Authorities said the neighbor also reported that no adult appeared to be present at the home where the child had been staying.
According to the affidavit, the neighbor described the child as “weak, sick, and lethargic” when they first encountered them. While being evaluated at the hospital, the child tested positive for THC, the psychoactive compound found in marijuana.
Police said the child slept for much of the time officers were at the hospital, but investigators were able to reach the child’s family. During a video call, a family member confirmed that Plaza had been the only adult entrusted with caring for the child while the family traveled out of state to Georgia for several days. When the child was awake, they told police Plaza had left them alone around 10 p.m. the previous night and that no other adult came to the residence afterward.
Investigators later located Plaza and spoke with her by phone, according to the affidavit. Plaza allegedly told officers she left the child alone because she believed the family would be returning later that night. Police said she ultimately acknowledged leaving the child at the family’s home so she could spend the night at her boyfriend’s house.
When officers asked how the child may have had THC in their system, Plaza allegedly said she had stored a bottle of CBD oil in the bathroom medicine cabinet and THC gummies in the freezer, both of which were accessible to the child. She denied giving the child any substances and told police the child “should not know what they are.” The child was not able to tell investigators what they had consumed.
Plaza was arrested on June 19 and posted $5,000 bond later that day. She is due in court on July 13.
