South Tampa Teen Charged With 3 DUIs in 3 Weeks

A South Tampa teenager recently racked up three DUI charges within a three-week period, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Kimberly McCarthy, 18, was arrested three times in 18 days:

• On Feb. 24, she was pulled over at Palm River Road and 50th Street, where Tampa Police found 12 Xanax pills, marijuana, a bong and an opened bottle of Sailor Jerry spiced rum in the van she was driving, according to the Times and arrest records.

• On March 11 — after the the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles sent McCarthy a letter stating it was suspending her license, according to the Times — she was pulled over at West Kennedy Boulevard and West Tampania Avenue and found to be in possession of marijuana, police said.

• The next day, March 12, McCarthy was again arrested on a DUI charge after she rear-ended a car near West Azeele Street and South MacDill Avenue. Police found marijuana, a bong, a roach clip and a glass pipe in her van, the Times reports, though McCarthy told officers she "didn't know that smoking marijuana and driving would be a DUI. I just like smoking marijuana."

On McCarthy's last two arrests she was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.00, though police believed she was impaired and urine analysis results are pending.

McCarthy was sent back to Hillsborough County Jail on Monday after a judge denied her bond.

The Times spoke to McCarthy's adoptive father, David McCarthy, on Monday at the family's Bayshore Beautiful home, where he said the teen "has a good streak in there" but smokes marijuana and hangs out with the wrong crowd.