Surveillance video shows woman taking shot at bar with children alone in car

Another patron at Jesse's Xtreme Sports Bar in Margate calls police

MARGATE, Fla. – Surveillance video obtained Tuesday by Local 10 News shows a Deerfield Beach woman taking a shot at a Margate bar while her two children were left alone in her car, police said.

Crystal Chavez, 30, faces a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm.

According to an arrest report, Chavez was at Jesse's Xtreme Sports Bar last month while her children, ages 10 and 5, were in the car with the windows rolled up and the engine turned off for almost half an hour.

Surveillance video shows a woman, identified by police as Chavez, laughing, hugging and smiling with other patrons at the bar before taking a shot with them.

It was another patron at the bar who called police.

"Hi, I'm at Jesse's Xtreme Sports Bar, and there's a lady inside the bar who has left her kids inside of the car unattended," the patron told a 911 dispatcher.

The patron said she saw two children in a Toyota Corolla parked outside the bar.

"One was just standing outside of the car, and she saw me come and she shut the door," the patron said.

The caller, who didn't want to give her name, told the dispatcher that she was standing outside "keeping an eye" on the children. She provided a description of the woman for police.

"OK, she's sitting at the bar right now, too?" the dispatcher asked.

"She is," the patron said.


Chavez closed her tab a short time later and walked out to the parking lot, where police and her children were waiting for her. 

Employees and patrons were stunned, some peeking out the window of the bar as she was led away in handcuffs. 

Tuesday night, a man who identified himself as Chavez’ husband at their Deerfield Beach home, said she was not interested in speaking to reporters.

"I don’t think she’s going to want to say anything," he said. "[The kids] are fine, everything’s alright. We don’t have [anything] to say."

The children are now living with relatives for the time being.