Florida mom arrested after girl licks tongue depressor at doctor’s office, puts it back

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida mother was arrested after her daughter reportedly licked a tongue depressor at a doctor’s office and put it back.

Cori E. Ward said she was “just being silly” when she recorded a video of her daughter inside of an exam room at the All About Kids and Families Medical Center in Jacksonville. The 10-year-old, who was a patient, can be seen pulling the tongue depressor out of a jar, licking it, then placing it back into the jar.

“Why do it and record it? I had just been waiting a long time. I was just being silly with my kids,” Ward told WJXT.

The video has since gone viral and Ward said she started receiving death threats. It was later taken down.

The video comes amid a disturbing trend in which people are licking items and putting them back. But the mother told First Coast News that it wasn’t a choreographed prank.

“What I didn’t know was that there was a “licking challenge” as I don’t scroll social media like that,” Ward said in a Facebook post before apparently deleting her profile.

“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.”

The facility released a statement, saying “we immediately removed all materials and containers from the specific exam room and re-sanitized our entire facility.”

Ward, 30, is charged with tampering with a consumer product without regard for possible death or bodily injury, a felony.

She is being held without bond and is due in court Friday morning.