Three members of a Utah family could face criminal charges after a 3-year-old girl tested positive for exposure to methamphetamine.
According to KSTU, police were contacted by emergency room staff on Dec. 30 after the victim was admitted to Mountain West Medical Center in Tooele City, where the narcotic was found in her system.
Reports indicate the girl’s grandmother, who was also her legal guardian, said she observed the child act unusually. Her adult children — the girl’s aunts and uncle — reportedly told her she acted “weird” after consuming soda from a bottle at the location.
The uncle, Danie Black, was arrested at the scene after allegedly admitting to recent methamphetamine use. His arrest reportedly prompted police to believe his two sisters, Lucinda and Ashley, might have been involved in the child’s exposure to the harmful substance.
“After reading Danie his Miranda rights and him agreeing and talking to me, he stated that his sisters … gave him meth and that the bottle belonged to Lucinda or Ashley and that Lucinda and Ashley would always mix him drinks with meth in them,” a police statement read.
It was one of those drug-laced mixed drinks that investigators believe the child drank prior to the medical emergency.
Grantsville City Police Detective Lydon Allred said that “all three subjects” attempted to deceive him and “blame it on each other.”
He noted that each of the suspects admitted to using meth on the night of the child’s exposure.
“Due to the facts in this case, Danie was transported to the Tooele County Detention Center and charged with child abuse and felony child endangerment,” Allred said.
Lucinda Black is facing similar charges. It is unclear what, if any, charges the third sibling might face.
[Featured image: Danie Black, Ashley Black and Lucinda Black/Tooele County Sheriff’s Office]