WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. – A 20-year-old Florida mom was arrested Thursday after authorities said she allowed her 2-year-old child to smoke methamphetamine and marijuana.
Kaitlyn Ecker is charged with child abuse, as well as lewd and lascivious battery and transmission of harmful material to a minor from an unrelated investigation.
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The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office said authorities had been investigating Ecker since Jan. 12 after someone reported that Ecker allowed her toddler to do drugs. Authorities interviewed multiple witnesses who said the child smoked marijuana with Ecker and that people “joked” about the toddler's ability to “roll joints” for her.
Witnesses told police Ecker kept narcotics in her home and that she used methamphetamine.
When authorities executed a search warrant on Ecker's home on Jan. 19, they said they found several items "consistent with marijuana and methamphetamine use," including two glass methamphetamine pipes, each with residue inside; a plastic pill bottle converted into a handmade smoking device with burned residue; two marijuana grinders, one of which had marijuana inside; a digital scale; and a small plastic bag containing marijuana residue located within a basket containing children's toys.
Ecker was arrested on Jan. 19 for possession of marijuana.
Authorities took a blood and hair sample from both Ecker and the 2-year-old the date of the arrest and on March 15, investigators received the toxicology results. According to investigators, the 2-year-old's samples came back positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine and the findings were “chronic," meaning the child was exposed to narcotics "several times or on one or more occasions."
Ecker admitted to smoking marijuana, but denied owning the glass pipe and said she'd smoked methamphetamine four months prior. Investigators said she also denied "ever smoking or ingesting drugs in the presence of the 2-year-old and denied any knowledge of the child being exposed to drugs."
Ecker was arrested and booked into the Wakulla County Jail.