Deputies: Florida mom accused of handcuffing daughter to steering wheel in hot car, other abuse
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. - A Central Florida mother is accused of handcuffing her daughter to a steering wheel and leaving her in a hot car as well as other disturbing acts of child abuse, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies arrested Priscilla Florentino, 33, of Palm Coast on Thursday.
According to a charging affidavit, Florentino found out her daughter was involved in "inappropriate activity on her cellphone" and went to pick her up from school. When Florentino returned to work at a hotel, a co-worker told deputies that she saw Florentino's daughter handcuffed to the steering wheel and that Florentino got out of the vehicle and walked inside the building. She reportedly returned to the car a short time later, handcuffed her daughter to her wrist, and brought her inside.
The co-worker told deputies that she observed Florentino writing an inappropriate phrase on her daughter face and then cut her shoulder-length hair into a "military" cut. The report states that another employee working at the front desk of the hotel saw Florentino shove a pipe into her daughter's mouth.
MORE NEWS: Florida woman accused of drowning pet Chihuahua in swimming pool
When interviewed by investigators, the front desk employee said that Florentino came to work with her daughter's phone and suspected that she was hiding things within the phone. While going through her phone, Florentino reportedly found numerous sexual photos. That's when she left work and picked up her daughter. While talking to her daughter in the hallway of the hotel, the employee said she saw Florentino raise her arm with the phone in it and heard Florentino hitting her daughter with the phone. She said Florentino then wrote "whore" all over her daughter's face.
Deputies went to Florentino's home to ask her about the incident, but said she denied them permission to speak with her daughter. When they tried to detain her, deputies said she resisted and yelled several profanities at them. At one point, they said she began hitting one of the deputies with a closed fist in an effort to break free.
Florentino was arrested for child abuse, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting without violence.