Indictment: Woman’s newborn tested positive for drugs
Published 9:05 am Tuesday, October 30, 2018
By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor
COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County grand jury has upheld a felony chemical endangerment of a child charge against a 35-year-old Alabaster woman after her child allegedly tested positive for multiple controlled substances immediately after birth.
The grand jury returned a one-count indictment upholding the charge against Andrea Riddle Collett, who lists an address on Woodbrook Circle in Alabaster, during its September session.
The Alabaster Police Department arrested Collett on Dec. 2, 2016, and charged her with the Class C felony, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon conviction.
According to the indictment, Collett allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine on a pre-delivery drug screen before she gave birth at Shelby Baptist Medical Center on Aug. 16, 2016.
After the child was born, it allegedly tested positive for opiates, hydromorphone, cannabinoids and THC, according to the indictment.
Collett was set to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court on Oct. 29 for an arraignment. She was released from the Shelby County Jail the same day she was arrested after posting a $5,000 bond.