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Deputies find 2 kids alone, arrest mother

The Spring Hill woman's 2- and 4-year-old were unsupervised in a yard, deputies say, and are put in protective custody.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published October 8, 2005

SPRING HILL- A 35-year-old Spring Hill woman faces child neglect charges after Hernando County deputies say she left her two children unsupervised for more than five hours Thursday.

Barbara Josephine Lane was arrested after deputies discovered her 2-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl playing unsupervised in a neighbor's yard about 11:15 a.m. while she slept.

According to a Sheriff's Office report, after receiving a tip from the neighbor about the children, authorities arrived at the neighbor's home and found both children dirty but otherwise unharmed.

Afterward, a deputy went to 12331 Curry Drive, two houses from where the children were found, and saw the front door wide open. Inside, he found Lane asleep in her bed. The deputy also reported observing several prescription pill bottles on a nightstand, plus beer bottles and a clear plastic baggie containing a green substance resembling marijuana.

When questioned by authorities, Lane said she was unaware of her children's location. She said she had passed out at about 5 a.m., and that the children's father, Jeffrey Beecher, had left for work an hour later. She admitted that she often left the children to watch TV by themselves until she awakened.

Lane also told deputies that she is currently taking several prescribed medications, including Oxycodone, Flexorol and Enderol and that she occasionally smoked marijuana with her boyfriend.

When Beecher returned to the residence, he told authorities he was unaware of Lane's habit of leaving the children unattended. He also said he had not smoked marijuana in about four weeks.

Although deputies initially determined that the children could remain in Beecher's custody after he passed a drug test, caseworkers from the state Department of Children and Families removed the children from the home late Friday and placed them in protective custody.

For Al Zimmerman, spokesman for DCF District 13, the incident brought back stark memories of the tragic death two weeks ago of 2-year-old Preston Quillen. Preston drowned in a pond near his Ridge Manor home after he and his 3-year-old brother, Thomas, wandered away while their mother slept.

"Following so closely to that tragedy, we had hoped that all parents would have learned a lesson, " Zimmerman said. "You need to do all you can to keep and eye on you children."

Lane was released from Hernando County Jail on Friday in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@sptimes.com or 352 848-1435.

[Last modified October 8, 2005, 01:26:19]