Woman Whose Baby Tested Positive for Drugs is Sentenced

By Bill Braun, Tulsa World, Okla.

Feb. 11–A woman whose baby reportedly tested positive for drugs when it was born was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for possessing drugs that police found at her Tulsa apartment. Tracy M. Flores, 25, pleaded guilty Dec. 21 to a felony charge of possessing a controlled drug with an intent to distribute. Tulsa County District Judge Jesse Harris imposed a split 10-year sentence that requires Flores to spend five years on probation after her release from prison. Police officers responded to Flores’ apartment, in the 7100 block of South Erie Avenue, on Aug. 7, 2004, to assist emergency medical personnel “with a female that had given birth to her child in her toilet,” an investigator’s affidavit states. The woman, identified as Flores, had severed the umbilical cord with a “dental floss utensil and had left the child in the toilet,” the affidavit says. Flores called 911, a prosecutor said. Police reported that a small plastic bag containing a white powder that was consistent with methamphetamine, as well as pills and other suspected drug-related items, were in plain view in the apartment. Officers obtained a search warrant to recover the suspected drugs and other items. At a hospital, both Flores and the baby tested positive for amphetamines and methamphetamine, a background report states. Flores has “admitted to using drugs, as well as selling drugs on a few occasions,” that sentencing report states. The baby was given up for adoption. Prosecutors did not charge Flores until April 27, more than eight months after the baby’s birth. Prosecutors considered the possibility of filing a charge linked to the baby’s status but ultimately decided to file the one-count drug charge. Assistant District Attorney Eric Johnston said he recommended a 10-year prison term for Flores, and he said he objected to Harris’ decision to suspend half of the sentence. Flores, who had been free on bond, was jailed Friday. In a previous Tulsa County case, another woman was sentenced in October to four years in prison on a charge of injuring a child, linked to allegations that she used methamphetamine while she was pregnant in 2004. In that case, Billie Dawn Elrod pleaded guilty to injuring her newborn son, who tested positive for the presence of amphetamines, police reported. Elrod indicated in a document that she was “addicted to methamphetamine while in the last trimester of pregnancy,” and police reported that she gave birth at her apartment, records show. District Judge Clancy Smith imposed the four-year prison term as part of a plea deal. Two other women were charged in separate Washington County cases last year after they gave birth to babies who officials said were harmed because of substance abuse. One of those women was charged with child neglect, and the other was charged with child abuse, records show. Those charges are pending. ———— Bill Braun 581-8455 bill.braun@tulsaworld.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.

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