A Utah man and woman are behind bars after allegedly giving their newborn daughter a cocktail of drugs to help offset heroin withdrawal symptoms and to cover up the fact she was addicted in the first place.

KUTV reports the Elk Ridge couple, Colby Glen Wilde, 29, and Lacey Dawn Christenson, 26, face felony charges after authorities allege that numerous “informants” told them that the couple would crush up Suboxone or methadone and feed the drugs to their newborn daughter, born on April 9. The couple reportedly put the crushed drugs on their fingertips, then spread it over the infant’s gums.

Christenson apparently used both heroin and prescription drugs frequently during her pregnancy and in turn, she gave birth to an infant with drug addiction.

Police said that on June 26, the couple tried to shoplift from a Spanish Fork Walmart while with their newborn and three older children. Wilde allegedly grabbed items off of the shelves in the store and walked up to the customer service desk and exchanged the merchandise for a gift card, as if he had already purchased the items.

Security officers tried to stop as he walked out, but Wilde ran out of the store so quickly that smacked into the exit doors, dropping his infant in her car seat. He grabbed the car seat and made a run for it again, but once again, dropped the baby when he ran into a pillar. He then put the baby into a random bystander’s arms and ran off.

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Police blocked Wilde off as he tried to drive away, took him into custody, and charged him with driving without insurance, DUI, child abuse, possession of heroin and methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police located Christenson with her three children inside the store and arrested her on an outstanding traffic warrant.

The couple made bail, but authorities arrested them again after a narcotics team searched their home in July and found a large stash of narcotics and drug paraphernalia inside the residence. They also caught Christenson in the act of smoking heroin.

As investigators pressed the couple about their drug use, they reportedly admitted that they started crushing up narcotics and putting it on their newborn’s gums the very day she was born, while still in the hospital. They said when the nurses became distracted, they rubbed crushed-up Suboxone all over the infant’s gums so that she wouldn’t go into drug withdrawal. They allegedly continued giving the baby drugs when they returned home.

Family Services took the children into their custody and reported that the two youngest boys tested positive for second-hand methamphetamine smoke. The oldest boy’s biological father later picked him up. The father didn’t want to separate the boy from his siblings, so he took the other children into his custody as well.

The couple faces charges of distribution of a controlled substance in a drug free zone, endangerment of a child, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of use of heroin and methamphetamine. Both are being held on bond amounts of $10,000 cash-only each.

[Feature Photo: Utah County PD]