By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer
Monday, September 13, 2010
NEW PORT RICHEY — A mother left her 2-year-old daughter and pit bull locked in a hot garage Sunday afternoon while she looked for her other daughter, police said.
New Port Richey police took a call reporting a disturbance between Linda Koberna, 40, and her teen daughter, Brittany Marzolf, about 3 p.m., an arrest report says. When officers arrived at Bandura Avenue and Mengi Circle, where Koberna had said she was chasing Brittany, she told officers she had left her toddler with a neighbor near her home on Ashmore Drive, said police Sgt. Robert Close.
When officers went to that house, they heard a child crying in the garage. Officers said they unlocked the door and found the girl sweating profusely. Koberna's dog, Tookie, was nearby, tied to a chair. Officers logged the temperature at 105 degrees.
Koberna was charged with child neglect and taken to the Land O'Lakes jail, where she remained Monday evening in lieu of $5,000 bail. Koberna, who said she had taken five pills of oxycodone, Xanax and Soma that day, slurred her speech and seemed unable to stay awake, an arrest report shows. Koberna has been convicted of at least six drug charges, records show.