DeLeon Springs Woman Charged With Child Neglect

Posted
Tamara Rettinger
(Volusia County Jail)

DeLeon Springs, FL - A 34-year-old DeLeon Springs woman on probation for drugs is held without bond at Volusia County Jail after deputies got a report that she was passed out in a vehicle with two kids.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office arrested Tamara Rettinger over the weekend after tracking her to a gas station in DeLeon Springs.

The investigation began Saturday afternoon when someone called VCSO about a woman passed out in a van with two small children in the car seats. The caller gave the vehicle's tag number which came back to Rettinger. The vehicle was gone when VCSO arrived on scene.

Around 4:30 p.m., Rettinger's husband contacted VCSO to report he had not seen his wife or the children in several days. He told deputies that he'd called Rettinger several times and found that her phone had been left at the Wal-Mart. He went there, retrieved the phone and reviewed its contents in an effort to locate them.

The husband called one of the numbers in Rettinger's phone and went to the address given to him, a known residence for the use and sale of various narcotics. He found one of the children at the home, covered in dirt, not wearing shoes and apparently not supervised.

No one at the residence stated they were responsible for the child nor were they providing any care for her, per VCSO.

Deputies were finally able to make contact with Rettinger and she met with officers at a gas station on U.S. 17. The two children with her were improperly buckled into their seatbelts, dirty and wearing soiled diapers. Rettinger told deputies a confusing story about who she left the other child with and did not have a working phone number for that person.

Rettinger was placed under arrest, charged with three counts of child neglect, giving false information to police and a probation violation.

The man who said he was her husband confirmed that she did have issues with methamphetamine addiction, according to the report.

The children were turned over to Rettinger's mother.

VCJ records show Rettinger's been booked there at least eight other times since May 2004, including for battery, drug paraphernalia possession, driving on a suspended license, violating a protection order and drug possession.