PANAMA CITY BEACH — An Ohio policeman and his wife were jailed early Thursday for felony child abuse after investigators alleged they left their children with a loaded gun in a truck parked outside a bar while they went inside to drink.
Staff at the Coyote Ugly Saloon on Front Beach Road became suspicious of Michael Webb and Staci Hall late Wednesday night and went out and checked their vehicle, where they found a toddler and an infant sleeping. Staff then called Panama City Beach Police, according to court records.
When officers arrived they found Webb, 35, and Hall, 29, sitting at the bar drinking “with no apparent view of their children.” When they went to the truck, the windows were only slightly cracked, and they found a 3-year-old and an 11-month-old sleeping in the backseat. Both were warm to the touch.
Police found a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol with a round in the chamber in the driver’s side door where the children could have reached it. The gun was not secured in any case or holster.
Webb, a police officer with the Ross Township, Ohio, Police Department, and Hall were arrested about 12:30 a.m. after at least an hour at the bar. They were booked into the Bay County Jail on charges of felony child abuse. Bond for each is set at $500, according to jail staff.
The Department of Children and Family Services took custody of the children.
An earlier version of this story is posted below:
Panama City Beach police charged an Ohio police officer with aggravated child neglect early Thursday, according to a news release.
Investigators wrote that Michael A. Webb, 35, an officer with Ross Township and his companion, Staci D. Hall, 29, were both drinking at a bar on Front Beach Road just after midnight. While they were drinking the couple left two boys, ages three and 11-months alone and without supervision in their vehicle, the news release states.
Officers also discovered a loaded and unsecured handgun within reach of the 3-year-old and determined that the couple had left the children alone in the car for more than hour, officers said.
Webb and Hall were both charged with aggravated child neglect and the children were turned over to Florida's Department of Children and Family Services.