A Texas mom is facing a charge of reckless bodily injury to a child after she allegedly served alcoholic Jell-O shots at a Christmas party for her daughter’s fifth-grade class.
Teresa Isabel Bernal, 33, of Tyler, was arrested Monday for the Dec. 20 incident at her daughter’s elementary school after the assistant principal told a police officer they believed a parent had brought gelatin shots containing booze to a class party.
Police interviewed 15 students who claimed to have imbibed the juiced-up Jell-O, and almost all of them reported having stomach pains and headaches afterwards, according to documents reviewed by Law & Crime.
One boy told police he vomited twice that day, while another student said he “passed out.” Another student said in an interview a few weeks after the incident that he had six shots, got dizzy and fell and felt like he couldn’t get back up on his feet.
Two teachers who sampled the Jell-O shots also suspected they had alcohol, according to an arrest affidavit.
When police interviewed Bernal, she said the Jell-O came from a small sweet shop run out of a private home, but claimed she was unaware they contained alcohol.
The arresting affidavit notes that the ad for the holiday-themed Jell-O shots Bernal purchased for the kids’ party has “Smirnoff” written on the bottom in thin white font, KLTV reported.
When police interviewed the owners of the sweets shop in January, they told investigators they thought Bernal ordered alcoholic shots on purpose. One of the owners showed the officer a screenshot of a text from Bernal sent on the day of the party, where she asked if the shots had alcohol.
After the owner reportedly affirmed they did and asked why, Bernal simply texted back, “kids.”
The officer who interviewed witnesses said some of the teachers thought it was odd that Bernal allegedly brought the shots, as she was “an involved parent and was present at many functions at the school.”
Police received lab results on March 6 showing the Jell-O in the shots did have booze, and a warrant for Bernal’s arrest was issued April 10.
Bernal was booked into the Smith County Jail on Monday on a charge of reckless bodily injury to a child, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. She was released the same day after posting a $75,000 bond.
No attorney is listed for Bernal at this time.
