Ashley Agerenza, of St. Petersburg, was charged with child abuse, resisting arrest without violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. She was released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting $10,150 in bail.
The 19-year-old Agerenza, who works at Mugs and Jugs, first brought her daughter into the tanning salon at 5907 Fourth St. N., said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz. When she was told she couldn't leave the baby in the salon while she tanned, she went back outside,
put the child in a car seat in back and turned the engine on. The car was left unlocked.
Someone in a nearby business saw what was happening and, when Agerenza didn't return to the car, called 911, Puetz said. An officer found
the baby had nearly pushed herself out of the car seat and had also spit up, Puetz said.
The officer picked the baby up and tried to comfort her while another officer started looking for the baby's mother.
The second officer found Agerenza, and
she started yelling, saying she had done nothing wrong and that the baby's father had been with her, Puetz said.
Witnesses, however, did not see the baby's father.
When the second officer tried arresting Agerenza,
she hit him, twisted and turned and tried to walk away, Puetz said. That's when the officer
used his electric stun gun. The first deployment had no effect,
so he used it a second time and she finally went to the ground, Puetz said.
Bookmarks