Teenager charged with child abuse after girlfriend swallows pills

An 18-year-old Crestview resident faces a charge of child abuse after his 16-year-old girlfriend swallowed 16 pills used to treat allergies. The girl had to be hospitalized after suffering “seizure-like behavior,” according to an investigator.

William Lawson Hamm III was arrested Sunday and charged with felony child abuse for “supplying access to his home” for consumption of the pills by his girlfriend, a Crestview Police Department report states.

“The defendant observed his 16-year-old girlfriend consume 16 sleeping pills for the express reason of obtaining an intoxicating state of mind,” the report states.

Although called sleeping pills, the capsules are later identified in the report as Benadryl, an antihistamine used to treat sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes and other symptoms of allergies and the common cold.

Hamm and his girlfriend were both treated at North Okaloosa Medical Center Saturday . Hamm later told investigators he had also taken 16 of the pills and believed they were stolen by another juvenile from the Dollar Tree store in Crestview.

“The defendant stated he was told the pills would induce an intoxicated state,” the arrest report states.

Hamm was released from the Okaloosa County Jail on a $2,500 bond shortly after his arrest. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 5.