A Jacksonville mother was in court Friday morning after a video surfaced earlier this week of her daughter licking a tongue depressor and putting it back with the other supplies at a doctor's office.
Cori Ward, 30, posted the disturbing video of her daughter's actions on Snapchat. She was arrested Thursday and charged with tampering with a consumer product without regard for possible death or bodily injury, a felony.
At Ward's first appearance Friday in Duval County court, a judge set her bond at $2,500 and she was instructed to have no contact with the doctor's office and to stay off of social media.
Ward responded to a storm of criticism Wednesday saying that it wasn’t a choreographed prank and not motivated by a social media fad.
“What I didn’t know was that there was a “licking challenge” as I don’t scroll social media like that,” the woman said in a Facebook post before apparently deleting her profile.
She also implied that the materials her kids were handling while waiting for medical appointments were all either cleaned or discarded.
“The video doesn’t show that the items were thrown away or anything else that happened,” her explanation continued. “I posted this on my personal Snapchat with my 20-something friends, where someone allowed another person to video it. I didn’t post it on Facebook or YouTube as a challenge or whatever.”
Shortly after her arrest, the medical center released a statement, saying "we immediately removed all materials and containers from the specific exam room and re-sanitized our entire facility."
This follows a recent social media trend where people have begun filming themselves opening, eating, drinking or licking products before placing them back on store shelves.
Ward, who posted the video of her daughter on social media Tuesday, responded to a storm of criticism Wednesday saying that it wasn’t a choreographed prank, let alone anything motivated by a social media fad.
“What I didn’t know was that there was a “licking challenge” as I don’t scroll social media like that,” the woman said in a Facebook post before apparently deleting her profile.