News and Investigations

On Saturday, March 17, 2018, Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a 26-year-old 4th grade teacher from Laurel Elementary in Poinciana, on charges of child neglect and marijuana possession. The arrest of Marsha Dolce followed an investigation after a 4-year-old child in her custody, was found wondering alone outside of her home on Village Way in Davenport, Saturday morning.

According to the affidavit, deputies responded to the apartment complex where Dolce resides on Saturday at about 6:49 a.m., due to the child crying outside, asking for help, and wearing only a T-shirt and underwear.

Dolce returned home at the apartment complex at about 7:51 a.m., and she told deputies that she left the house just before seven to help a friend whose car broke down.

During a search of the home, deputies discovered marijuana in a grinding device on the kitchen counter. A search through her cell phone revealed a text message sent to her at 2:32 a.m. that morning that gave an address in the Jan Phyl Village area of Winter Haven, and a text from Dolce's phone at 3:21 a.m. that said, "I'm here."

After confronting Dolce about her text messages, she admitted to deputies that she made the story up about helping a friend with a broken-down car. She told them that she wanted to get some marijuana, and the 4 year-old boy was asleep, so she assumed she could go to Winter Haven quickly to meet a friend named Dre and get some from him. She said that she and Dre returned to her home, had consensual sex, and she took him back to Winter Haven.

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) was contacted, and the child was removed from the home, and Dolce's custody.

"This is not what we expect from a person in a position of public trust. She left her four year-old home alone to go find some marijuana. To think about this poor scared child crying in the street not knowing where mom was-it is just a shame and should not have happened." - Grady Judd, Sheriff

Dolce was arrested and charged with Negligent Child Abuse without great bodily harm (F-1), Possession of Marijuana (M-1), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (M-1), and transported to the Polk County Jail. She has no prior criminal history.

Dolce has been employed by the Polk County School Board for approximately three months.