4-Hour Trip to Bar Lands Mom in Jail

A 36-year-old St. Petersburg mother’s trip to a local bar ended with a ride to jail after police say she left her son in the car while she drank inside for four hours and then attempted to drive her car intoxicated with the child still inside.

St. Petersburg Police also say Krastina Yankova Gesheva struck two parked cars outside the Tryst Lounge, 240 Beach Drive N.E. around 3 a.m. Monday morning before bystanders called them.

“When officers arrived a crowd of people were standing outside pointing to a woman, later identified as Gesheva, who was occupying a 2010 silver Mercedes in front of the lounge,” wrote police spokesman Mike Puetz in an email to media. “Witnesses told the officers that woman had struck two parked cars as she was backing out and was now attempting to leave the area.”

When officers approached the car, they spotted the child inside. While neither was injured in the parking lot crash, Gesheva was charged with DUI and child neglect. Her blood alcohol level was 0.177 percent, Puetz wrote.

“Officers learned from witnesses that Gesheva had been seen in the lounge drinking for approximately four hours and that her son had been seen sitting in her car alone during that time,” he said. “They said that periodically the son would exit the car and come into the bar to look for his mother.”

Gesheva was released from the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bond, according to jail records. She has no prior arrests in the county. Her son was released to the custody of a guardian, Puetz said.

Photo Credit: Krastina Yankova Gesheva/Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office