FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A 33-year-old Palm Coast woman was arrested Thursday after witnesses saw her shave a girl’s head, write derogatory words on her face and shove a pipe in her mouth, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said Priscilla Florentino, 33, performed these acts on the girl — whom deputies identified as a member of Florentino’s family — after finding “sexually explicit photographs” on the girl’s phone.
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During a confrontation over the pictures, Florentino handcuffed the girl to a steering wheel and left her in a hot vehicle for some time before taking the girl inside a hotel near Palm Coast Parkway and Old Kings Road, which is where the abuse took place, deputies said.
A witness told deputies they saw Florentino writing a sexually derogatory phrase on and gripping the girl’s face.
According to the arrest report, Florentino tried to flee from and hit deputies who showed up at her home to investigate her.
“You have the right to discipline, but this woman took her anger out on the victim in completely unacceptable ways and then tried to impede the deputies who responded to investigate,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. “In my career, I’ve never seen someone do these kind of horrific acts to a minor as disciplinary measures. I hope she gets anger management classes, which she obviously needs.”
Florentino is being held without bond at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Center, deputies said. She faces charges of child abuse without great bodily harm, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence.
Deputies said Florentino does not have a prior criminal history in Flagler County and that the Florida Department of Children and Families has been notified of the incident.
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