Texas mom arrested after giving spiked Jell-O shots to class of 5th-graders
A Texas elementary school party got a little wobbly when a mom brought booze-filled Jell-O shots for the kids.
Cops in the town of Tyler arrested Teresa Isabel Bernal, 33, on Monday for her intoxicating party favors, which she said was an accident.
Bernal said she bought the Jell-O shots for her daughter's Christmas last December from a local confectioner she found on Facebook — but she thought they contained no alcohol, according to a police affidavit obtained by NBC.
Teresa Isabel Bernal, arrested for allegedly giving alcoholic treats to kids.
Smith County
The alcoholic Jell-O shots Bernal contributed to her daughter's Christmas party.
elvis santana – stock.adobe.com
Fifteen kids ate the colorful shots, which had been arranged on a table alongside more innocent treats.
Almost all of them reported 'having stomach aches and headaches, the affidavit said. One kid couldn't stay on his feet, another vomited, and a third 'passed out.'
Bernal said she thought the shots 'do taste different,' but claimed she only realized they contained alcohol after the tots had taken them, officials told NBC.
However, some of her daughter's teachers could taste the alcohol, and they sent all of the kids who had eaten them to the nurses office, the officials said. Only four kids stayed behind.
'During the interviews I was told, while some of the teachers found it odd that Bernal would bring Jell-O shots to an elementary school party, they were trusting Bernal to not bring anything harmful to the school party. Bernal was an involved parent and was present at many functions at the school,' an investigator wrote in the affidavit.
The officer said they did not believe Bernard got the kids liquored up by accident.
'In my opinion, there is no way Bernal could have missed the fact that the Jell-O shots she purchased … and brought to her daughter's 5th grade Christmas party contained drinking alcohol,' the officer wrote, adding that the Facebook business that sold the shots made it clear they contained alcohol.
Bernal left jail Monday after posting a $75,000 bond. She has been banned from school grounds, the school district told NBC.
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