Detectives with the Odessa Police Department were called on 4 November 2026 to assist with a welfare check for a girl at a hotel.[1] The welfare check occurred at the Baymont Inn in Odessa, Texas.[1] Upon arrival, detectives found an officer who had detained 42-year-old Tina Mendes and a 16-year-old girl inside a hotel room.[1] Mendes was advised of her Miranda rights, which she waived, and admitted during an interview that she had used methamphetamine with the teenager as recently as the night before.[1] Mendes also told Odessa Police Department officials that she had offered marijuana to the girl on 3 November.[1]
Investigators reported that a green leafy substance identified as marijuana, based on their training and experience, was sitting on top of white paper in the room.[1] Officers also observed two plastic baggies in plain view containing a white, crystal-like substance determined to be methamphetamine.[1] Officials separately interviewed two other people who stated that Mendes had used methamphetamine with the girl that morning just before police arrived.[1]
Mendes was arrested and charged with delivery of a controlled substance or marijuana to a child, a second-degree felony.[1] She was booked into the Ector County Law Enforcement Center and held on a $55,000 bond.[1]
