COLUMBUS, Ind. – A 36-year-old Columbus woman is in Bartholomew County Jail, preliminarily charged with neglect, after her child reportedly overdosed on drugs.
Last Friday, January 17, at 11:50 a.m., the Columbus Police Department (CPD) was called to Columbus Fire Station 1, 1101 Jackson St., where the mother, Dakota Smith of Columbus, had dropped off her three-year-old child.
When officers arrived, they learned the child had been taken by medical personnel to the hospital with opioid overdose symptoms. Smith was still at the fire station. The child was treated and later released from the hospital.
CPD investigators executed search warrants on a home on W. Suburban Ct. and the mother’s vehicle. Detectives believe the child ingested fentanyl or heroin from personal items belonging to the mother while the child was in her care.
Smith was taken in and booked for neglect of a dependent (level 6 felony). The investigation is still ongoing and additional charges are possible. All charges are merely accusations and the suspect is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
