Overdose call in Port Charlotte leads to search warrant, child neglect charges

An Orlando woman was arrested Saturday in Port Charlotte after deputies were called to a home for an overdose.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in the 800 block of Biscayne Drive and found a person unresponsive in a bedroom. Narcan was administered and the victim was transported to a nearby hospital and will survive.

Deputies say the home was being rented by Melodie Danette Bynum, 62.

While they were inside the home, they saw a loaded AR-15 inside a closet and within reach of children. They also discovered two loaded magazines, a bag of loose ammunition and a smoking bong on the kitchen table.

A search warrant of the home further turned up evidence of drug sales, additional ammunition of differing caliber, and brass knuckles inside the kitchen. In the living room, more ammunition was found, including magazines containing 40 rounds, two firearms, and another bag of over 130 rounds of loose ammunition.

A cooler containing more than $11,400 organized in $1,000 bundles was found in the laundry room, and more cash, a loaded handgun, and 10.3 grams of cocaine was found in another bedroom. CCSO said they believe that cocaine belonged to another resident who wasn’t present during the search.

Investigators said that at the time of the overdose, three small children, 5 years of age and younger, were coming and going from the bedroom where the overdose was happening, and the kids had access to the aforementioned items.

CCSO said both adults who lived in the home are convicted felons with previous drug-related charges.

The Department of Children and Families was contacted and placed the children into the custody of another family member.

Bynum is facing charges of possession of a firearm, ammunition or weapon by a convicted felon and child neglect. Her bond was set at $50,000 for those charges, but she is being held at the Charlotte County Jail without bond due to a warrant in Orange County.