Woman charged with endangering a child

Published 2:52 pm Friday, September 28, 2012

A Butler County woman has been arrested and charged with child endangerment for using cocaine while pregnant.

Amy Murray, 31, was charged Wednesday with chemical endangerment of a child.

“We got a report from DHR that there was a possible issue with a chemical endangerment of a child,” said Lt. Justin Lovvorn of the Greenville Police Department. “I took the complaint from them and opened an investigation through the police department on that particular case.”

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By using medical records from the hospital, Lovvorn was able to determine that Murray contained cocaine in her blood after delivering the baby two months early.

“I got the suspect in and interviewed her on Wednesday and basically confirmed what I had already collected from records,” Lovvorn said. “She basically stated that she did use an illegal substance, mainly crack (cocaine), during her pregnancy. Her baby was born prematurely and was delivered in Montgomery earlier this month.”

The child is currently in stable condition, but is in an incubator and require around-the-clock medical attention. Lovvorn said he has not been made aware of anything unusual with the child other than it being premature and needing continuous care.

“We haven’t had a case like this in a couple of years that I know of,” Lovvorn said.

“Luckily, we don’t run into this very often. If it does happen though that’s something that is going to come to light because of the medical attention that they have to have with medical records that are kept through the hospital.”