MOTEL MOM CHARGED IN NEGLECT

Children Told Police She Was A Prostitute

CLEARWATER - Her addiction to crack cocaine was so strong, she prostituted
herself in a motel room where she lived with her children, asking them to
leave whenever she let in a man, court records say.

Two daughters who attend middle school - ages 12 and 13 - were afraid of her.

Two daughters who attend high school - ages 15 and 17 - were angry. And
they acted on their anger.

Sunday, more than two months after the teens spoke to a detective, Nannette
Douglas, 38, was charged with child neglect and booked into Pinellas County
Jail. She was being held Tuesday with bail set at $5,000.

Clearwater police Detective James Thomas was called to the two daughters'
high school on March 19, when they said Douglas was prostituting herself at
the Sunshine Inn at 20788 U.S. 19, according to court records unsealed this
week.

Thomas went to the motel and had the manager open Douglas' door, the
records say. A 2-year-old girl was sleeping on a bed, and a crack pipe was
in an ashtray, records say. The room was filthy.

Ten minutes later, Douglas arrived and said she had been in the lobby using
the telephone. Court records say she admitted smoking crack, often when her
children were present. And she admitted she prostituted herself so she
could buy about three rocks of the drug a day, records say.