CHEYENNE — A woman who runs an in-home daycare faces a charge of child endangering after she allegedly blew above a 0.40% on a blood alcohol test during a welfare check at the home.
Breanna Mallo, 34, faces a misdemeanor charge after she was found to be allegedly intoxicated while watching children, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
The affidavit doesn’t say why Cheyenne Police Department Officer Abigail Wingeleth responded to Mallo’s home Thursday afternoon, only that it was in response to a request for a welfare check.
“Upon arrival, I contacted Breanna Mallo, who advised she was having a panic attack,” Wingeleth wrote in the affidavit.
“I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Mallo’s person,” the affidavit continues. “(She) displayed bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, delayed and inconsistent responses, and poor balance.”
The in-home daycare provider agreed to do two portable breath tests on site, the affidavit says.
The first registered above a 0.40% blood alcohol content (BAC) and the second a 0.387%, Wingeleth wrote.
That’s when Mallo “admitted to drinking a Busch Light and Fat Tire beer,” the affidavit says.
The woman told police she’s the owner and director of the daycare, “and believed she had been watching five children who were downstairs by themselves,” Wingeleth wrote.
When they went downstairs, police found three young children, all ages 3 or younger, in the basement, according to the affidavit.
A message for Mallo wasn’t returned by publication time.
‘Not Common’
During his time over nearly 40 years of law enforcement experience, Byron Oedekoven said he couldn’t comment specifically on the Cheyenne case, but that in general, someone registering a 0.40% BAC or higher isn’t unheard of, but “is certainly not common.”
“In my experience over the course of my career, I did encounter that two times, both ladies, who blew above a 0.40%,” said the former Campbell County Sheriff and longtime director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police.
“The first was a DUI, and she was actually doing a pretty good job of driving,” Oedekoven said. “We were concerned and took her to the hospital to make sure it was not life-threatening.”
The second wasn’t a DUI, but that woman also was taken to the hospital, he said.
“I saw it twice, so it does happen, but it’s unusual that it happens,” Oedekoven said. “It usually indicates someone is used to consuming alcohol to excess.”
Statistically speaking, a BAC in the high 0.30% to 0.40% and above can be life-threatening, according to the National Library of Medicine.
A BAC of 0.30% to 0.40% brings a high risk of alcohol poisoning, loss of consciousness and slowed breathing.
Above 0.40% has a “life-threatening risk of coma and death from respiratory arrest,” the agency reports.
If convicted of misdemeanor child endangering, Mallo could get up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
