School employee arrested at Mount Healthy Elementary
A Bartholomew Consolidated Schools employee was arrested Wednesday night at Mount Healthy Elementary.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the school, at 12150 S. State Rd. 58, in reference to public intoxication.
During the investigation, deputies spoke with the original complainant who stated an i-CARE worker at Mount Healthy had allegedly been verbally aggressive toward her 12-year-old child who attends the school. When the parent confronted the woman, she immediately noticed the school employee was intoxicated. The parent then called 911.
The employee, 35-year-old Tiffany Cooksey of Bartholomew County, was allegedly verbally aggressive towards deputies. As they were preparing to transport Cooksey to Columbus Regional Hospital, Sheriffs Captain Dave Steinkoenig located a vehicle in the school parking lot that had Cookseys two step daughters, ages 7 and 10, inside. It is not clear how long the children had been left inside the vehicle unattended. The vehicle did belong to Cooksey and was not running when deputies noticed the children inside it. The children were picked up by a family member and Child Protective Services will be made aware of the incident. Prior to Cookseys arrest, deputies located an empty bottle of vodka with her belongings.
Cooksey was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for jail clearance before she was booked on preliminary charges of Public Intoxication and Child Neglect.
Cooksey remains behind bars on $11,000 bond.