A Wellington woman is facing child neglect charges for a bizarre incident in which she asked Sheriff's deputies to arrest her mailbox while she was high on Xanax.
Sheila Lederer, 32, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of child neglect in the July 7 incident, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office probable cause affidavit obtained by the Palm Beach Post.
Lederer was released from jail Thursday after posting $6,000 bond. It was unknown whether she has an attorney.
According to the affidavit, Lederer called police back in July saying someone was hiding in her bushes. When a deputy arrived, he found her screaming at a tree and yelling "Get out of here," the affidavit said.
She told the deputy she was having a conversation with the tree and the deputy told her "the tree was unable to talk and that the tree was not a person," the affidavit said.
Lederer told the deputy to arrest her mailbox, then tried to climb a bush and yelled that someone in the bushes was spying on her, the affidavit said. She also told the deputy there was no one else inside her home, but after he noticed some toys inside, he found a 15-year-old and 1-year-old lying in bed.
One of the kids told the deputy Lederer had been calling her the wrong name all week. The child said Lederer had a drug problem, and Lederer told the deputy she'd taken Xanax, the affidavit said.
The deputy found feces, old food, ants and roaches in the home and said it smelled like urine, the affidavit said.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital where she was Baker Acted. The two children were removed from the home by the Department of Children and Families.
