Parents of a drug-dependent infant have been arrested after police allege they gave their daughter prescription drugs to mask the addiction.
During her pregnancy, Lacey Dawn Christenson was heavily using heroin and prescription pain medication which resulted in her baby being born with a drug addiction, according to KUTV.
Ms Christenson, 26, and her partner Colby Glen Wilde, 29, will be charged with drug distribution and child endangerment charges, according to Utah County Sheriff’s spokesman Sergeant Spencer Cannon.
Authorities say it’s common for parents of drug-addicted children to crush up methadone or Soboxone, drugs used to treat opioid addiction, and rub it into their gums – a method the couple used after apparently learning it from their friends.
Wilde admitted he first applied crushed Suboxone pills to the infant’s gums in hospital the day she was born.
“It makes me sick to my stomach, for a number of reasons,” Sgt Cannon said.
“You’ve got an infant who cannot do anything for herself, and the people who should be providing her nurture, love, and care, are the ones who are harming their child.”
The parents were initially caught out due to Wilde allegedly taking items off the shelf at Walmart and trying to return them for cash.
When a loss prevention officer intervened, Wilde took off running while holding his three-month-old daughter in a car seat and slammed into the exit doors, dropping her in the process.
He dropped the baby a second time and, in exasperation, passed her to a stranger before fleeing to his car.
He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and Christenson, who was at the store with her other three sons during the ordeal, was arrested due to an outstanding warrant.
Lacey Christenson.
After finding drug paraphernalia at the house, most of which was within easy reach of the children, the children were tested for drugs.
The two younger boys, aged two and four, and the baby all tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
The infant girl also tested positive for heroin and morphine.
All four children are now in the custody of the eldest boy’s biological father while the couple remain in custody.
The parents were released on bail earlier but were later arrested again after Wilde was caught smoking heroin.
