East Texas authorities arrested a local couple accused of child endangerment after their one-year-old son tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamines exposure.
The infant’s parents, Meshell Cherie Dye, 21, and Andrew Allen Dorsey, 21, landed in the Angelina County Jail over the weekend once local law enforcement officers charged each of them with the state jail felony of endangering a child, which carries fines up to $10,000 and a punishment of up to two years behind bars. Officials also charged Dorsey with the state jail felony of criminal mischief, which can result in a fine as high as $20,000, and Class B misdemeanor criminal mischief. Police booked Dye and Dorsey booked into the county jail on June 24, setting Dye’s bail at $2,500 and Dorsey’s at $5,000. Jail records show they remain incarcerated.
KTRE reported that the situation began to unravel for the Huntington parents several months ago when a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator contacted Dye, who was living with her infant son at a friend’s home, to warn her about alleged drug use in that house. The caseworker advised Dye to leave and go back to living with the child’s grandparents, according to the arrest affidavit. It is unknown if Dye followed the CPS official’s suggestion.
Then, on April 25, authorities drug tested the baby and he came up positive for methamphetamines and amphetamines. A May 31 retest resulted in the same narcotics showing as present in his system. It remains unclear in what form the parents used the powerful and highly addictive stimulants. Meth can be snorted, smoked, injected, or ingested. Also not known is how the toddler was exposed, even if only through second-hand smoke or residue left behind on floors and carpets. Experts say a child’s greatest brain development takes place during the first three years of life and exposure to these types of illegal and powerful substances can put a young child’s cognitive health at risk.
According to court documents, Dye was also tested on the same dates as her son. The first time she tested positive for meth and marijuana. At her second drug test, she had meth and amphetamine in her system. KTRE also reported that Dorsey, who the Texas Alcohol and Drug Testing Service tested for narcotics, came up positive for meth, marijuana, and amphetamine on May 31.
The CPS investigator contacted a Huntington Police Department officer on June 16 regarding her child endangerment concerns. She told the law enforcement official that she was working a case where both parents and their one-year-old son all tested positive for methamphetamines and amphetamines. She divulged to police that she believed the parents were well aware of their son’s well-being and that their behavior, actions, and the living environment in which put their son, placed the infant in danger, according to the arrest warrant.
Following Dye and Dorsey’s arrests, authorities gave the grandmother custody of the baby boy. According to KTRE, the affidavit noted that a medical professional since saw the one-year-old and said the infant is “doing fine with no injuries or further problems resulting from the positive test results.”
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