Ginning Up Baby

JUNE 22--A 16-year-old Florida mother and two of her relatives made the girl's ten-month-old baby drink from a cup containing gin and videotaped the incident, said police who arrested the group this week. The teenager, whose name has not been released, was busted on felony child abuse charges along with her uncle and aunt for giving the baby boy alcohol in April, according to Bradenton Police Department reports. Pictured in the below mug shots are John Bell, 45, and Heather Moore, 21, the young mother's relatives. Investigators said the baby took several sips from a cup containing gin and an unknown juice, while the mother videotaped her child and Bell and Moore laughed. In a probable cause affidavit, cops reported that the teenager and her relatives were passing the cup around 'in an attempt to get the victim to walk to them.' The trio was arrested after the girl's mother discovered the videotape of her grandson drinking booze 'to the point of intoxication.' The mother is being held in a juvenile detention facility, while Bell and Moore are jailed at the Manatee County lockup on $5000 bail. Each defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison if convicted of the abuse. (4 pages)