‘Tummy tuck four’ survivor is ARRESTED ‘for taking her child to a fight the youngster had organized and waving a gun around while there’ – just DAYS after appearing on TV to recount her Mexico kidnapping experience
- Latavia Washington McGee, 34, has now been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. It is from an incident that occurred in February
One of the so-called ‘tummy tuck four’ survivors has been arrested for allegedly taking her child to fight other youngster before waving a gun around at the scene.
Latavia Washington McGee, 34, was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel alongside three friends while traveling to the country for a second tummy tuck surgery after having six children.
However, she has now been charged for an unrelated incident. It is linked to an alleged crime which happened on February 17 – just weeks before her kidnapping.
She was arrested on Saturday, just two days after appearing on CNN in an exclusive interview with Anderson Cooper where she recounted her Mexico experience.
The new charge is for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. It concerns a fight at an apartment complex on Spivey Avenue in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, between unidentified groups of people.
Latavia Washington McGee, 34, was charged for contributing to the delinquency of a minor on Saturday. She was released on Sunday on a $10,000 bond
McGee, 34, appeared on CNN just last week, days before her arrest. She recalled her kidnapping in Mexico. Her new charge is related to an incident which happened before the kidnapping
According to an incident report, McGee’s child went to fight another minor- but they were removed from the location by another family member, before allegedly being taken back by McGee.
The mother allegedly pulled a pistol from her purse and waved it around at the scene, witnesses said according to WBTW.
An arrest warrant alleges that she knowingly took her child to the location of the fight.
According to WBTW, police obtained security video of the entire incident.
One of McGee’s attorneys, Mark Cummings, confirmed that the arrest had nothing to do with her fatal kidnapping ordeal in Mexico.
He said that he believes the charge will be dismissed – but also commended the police for allowing McGee to spend time with her family after returning from Mexico on March 8 before they made their arrest.
Cummings said: ‘This charge was in no way related to the torture and death that [McGee] went through.
‘We believe that the police department was doing its job. We are grateful for the hard work the police department does, but we do look forward to the charge being dismissed.’
She was released on Sunday on a $10,000 bond.
According to South Carolina legislature, the charge which McGee faces is defined as one where an adult has knowingly and willfully encouraging a minor to violate the law.
This can include, but isn’t limited to, becoming and being disobedient, beyond the control of his or her parent, or repeatedly deserting his or her home or place of abode without parental consent.
McGee said ‘none of them deserved’ the treatment they received. She is shown after being rescued in March
Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, two of the Americans kidnapped in Mexico, were found dead
McGee and her friends Eric Williams, Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard – dubbed ‘the tummy tuck four’ – became lost trying to find the cosmetic clinic in the border town of Matamoros in March, when they were caught in the crossfire of a cartel gunfight and taken after being mistaken for drug traffickers.
Williams and McGee survived after four days in captivity, and were released after the cartels realized their mistake while Brown and Woodard were killed.
The surviving pair have since begun detailing their ordeal, and revealed to CNN the cartels tried to force them to have sex with each other while in captivity.
The group had traveled to Matamoros for her to have a tummy tuck. They had driven from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for days to get there.
Speaking of her murdered friends, McGee said: ‘They didn’t deserve that. None of us deserved it. But we’re alive – we have a lot of recovering to do’.
