Tampa lawyer faces child neglect charges after kids left on Pinellas beach, cops say
A 41-year-old Tampa lawyer was arrested Saturday after she left two girls — ages 3 and 7 — unattended just feet from the Gulf of Mexico for at least a half-hour, during which time the younger girl wandered into the water alone, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Patricia Anne Bronson, 41, of Clearwater, was arrested Saturday morning at Upham Beach, 6850 Beach Plaza in St. Pete Beach. She was booked into the Pinellas County jail on two counts of neglect of a child without great bodily harm, according to arrest reports from the Sheriff’s Office. The charge is a third-degree felony.
Bronson’s employer is White & Case LLP, an international law firm with a location in Tampa, according to the arrest report. The Florida Bar also lists Bronson as a lawyer for White & Case LLP.
Reached by phone this week, Bronson declined to comment. Efforts to reach a lawyer who Bronson said was representing her were unsuccessful this week after multiple phone calls to his office.
On Saturday morning, witnesses watched Bronson drop the girls off at Upham Beach, then get back in her car and leave, an arrest report states. The arrest report described Bronson as a “caregiver” to the girls.
One witness told deputies that she asked the 7-year-old where her sister was and the girl responded by pointing to the water. The witness ran to the water and found the 3-year-old in “waist deep” water by herself, reports state. The girl continued to run off, the witness told deputies. The witness later persuaded the 3-year-old to stay with her and the 7-year-old.
Bronson left the children by themselves for 30 to 45 minutes, the arrest report states. Bronson told deputies that she was “parking the car,” though she confirmed no one was watching the girls while she did so, the report states.
While being booked into the Pinellas County Jail, deputies added an additional third-degree felony charge of introducing/possessing contraband in a county detention facility against Bronson, according to an arrest report.
Bronson was “acting nervous and fidgeting” and when deputies asked if she was hiding anything, Bronson said she was just cold. Deputies later found a small vape pen containing a liquid substance after Bronson passed through an X-ray machine.
Bronson was released on a $15,000 bond on Sunday, according to jail records.
A spokesperson for White & Case LLP said they would look into the matter but had not responded to the Tampa Bay Times’ request for comment as of Wednesday morning.
White & Case LLP’s Tampa office is a global operations center and employs lawyers in the company’s technology and transactions group, the law firm’s website states.
The Florida Bar website states Bronson graduated from Florida Coastal School of Law in 2007 and that her practice area is in the federal appellate courts. A Bar spokesperson said it did not have any open case regarding the Saturday incident as of Tuesday.
Bronson was also arrested in 2022 in Hillsborough County on a charge of driving under the influence. Bronson later pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving, a second-degree misdemeanor. The Bar spokesperson confirmed that they have an open case regarding that incident.
According to the Bar, Bronson, who previously went by Patricia Anne Horal, was suspended for 90 days in 2017. A Florida Supreme Court document states Bronson admitted to engaging in a businesses partnership with a nonlawyer who improperly solicited clients and practiced law without a license.
A member of the Bar is required to notify the executive director if they have been charged with a felony, according to group rules. Additionally, if an attorney is found guilty of a felony, they would be automatically suspended.
However, regardless of the outcome in a misdemeanor or felony case against an attorney, the Bar can open a disciplinary case, group rules state.
