GULFPORT, Fla.-- Police have arrested a woman who they say left her three children unattended on a school bus overnight.
An officer found the bus in the Gulfport Municipal Beach parking lot at around 4:40 a-m.
The children, ages 3, 6, and 9, told the officer their mother left them on the bus the night before and went out on a boat.
Gulfport Marine Patrol searched the area and found the mother, 33-year-old Andrea Kerrins, on a boat owned by a 46-year-old man.
Police say Kerrins had been smoking marijuana and said she intended to spend the night on the boat.
On the bus, officers found a bin of mostly perishable food and a five gallon bucket that was designated as the toilet.
Kerins was charged with three counts of felony child neglect.
Police say the Florida Department of Children and Families have taken custody of the children "for the time being."
