Woman charged after baby is born allegedly addicted to fentanyl
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IDAHO FALLS — A 36-year old woman was charged with a felony after doctors reportedly discovered her newborn was born suffering with withdrawal from fentanyl.
Linda Waite was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor injury to a child.
On June 12 at 2:20 p.m., Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the State Office Building on Shoup Avenue in Idaho Falls to assist Child Protective Services (CPS) in an investigation.
According to court documents, a woman identified as Waite was at the State Office Building, speaking with CPS staff when deputies arrived.
Waite told deputies and the CPS staff that she was using methamphetamine and fentanyl while she was pregnant.
According to Waite, she was living in Pocatello with the baby’s father during the first trimester of her pregnancy, but got kicked out due to others relapsing in the home.
Police reports state Waite then moved to Bonneville County, where she was staying in a camping trailer at the Snake River Landing RV Park and the Walmart parking lot in Idaho Falls.
Waite explained that during the last four months of her pregnancy, she was “using fentanyl while at the Snake River Landing RV Park and the Walmart parking lot.”
She was reportedly using fentanyl in the form of “dirty 30” pills, one to five times a day.
On May 30, Waite says she went to EIRMC for a doctors appointment, where the doctor decided to induce labor the next day.
Waite said that on May 31, the day she was induced, she used a “dirty 30” pill, “just before going in to have her baby” according to court documents.
The baby’s umbilical cord was sent to a lab for testing, and the baby was reportedly put on morphine to help with the withdrawal symptoms.
According to a CPS employee, the results of the cord came back positive for fentanyl on June 12.
Waite was booked and arrested on June 23 and released shortly after.
She was charged with multiple unrelated misdemeanors between then and October, and was released on pretrial supervision on Oct. 11. She is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 25.
If convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison.
Though Waite has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.