A Pennsylvania woman is facing charges after police said they found her 11-year-old son heavily drunk in public, trying to start fights and staggering near a street.
Tina Gongloff, 31, of Trafford, is charged with endangering the welfare of children, a felony, and recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor.
A Trafford officer responding to a Sunday afternoon call from the intersection of Fifth Street and Cavitt Avenue found the boy outside "yelling and screaming, inhibiting vehicular traffic" and saying, "There's some kids trying to fight me," according to a criminal complaint.
The boy ran back to Gongloff’s home along with a juvenile girl, and the officer followed them, eventually finding nine empty miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey scattered in and outside of the home, according to the complaint.
No adults were in the home, which was disorderly, according to the complaint, and no food was in the refrigerator.
"She did leave at 9 o'clock in the morning, she was not gone for 24 hours, and every time she left, I was always here with these kids; they (were) never left alone," said Jennifer Gongloff, Tina Gongloff's sister.
The officer took the boy to the police station, where a breath test allegedly revealed he had a blood alcohol content of .41 percent, and the boy told police he had consumed all nine bottles of the whiskey that afternoon, according to the complaint. He was then taken to Forbes Regional Hospital for treatment.
When authorities were finally able to contact Tina Gongloff, she allegedly told them she left the children home alone because she “needed cigarettes” and “couldn’t go without,” according to the complaint. She said she also had decided to submit some job applications because she was unemployed, police said.
"I don't know what's going on with her. She's been real depressed lately, but I also know he lied. The alcohol did not come from her house. He got it off of somebody else," Jennifer Gongloff said.
When the officer asked about the conditions of the home and the lack of food, she allegedly said, “Things are not great.”
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