A South Carolina couple was arrested last week after their newborn tested positive for fentanyl at birth.
Brittany Christina Estepp, 29, has been charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, and Marcus Wayne Anaya Ashby was charged with violating home detention by resisting arrest and refusing to take a drug test.
Ashby told Spartanburg County Sheriff’s deputies there was “no point in taking the drug test because he would fail it for K2 and fentanyl.”
According to WLOS, the baby was born in January, and doctors found fentanyl in the blood of the umbilical cord. The baby boy was admitted to the natal intensive care unit and released to his paternal grandmother on January 18.
Detectives said that Estepp told them she had taken the opioid Roxicodone while she was pregnant and that it “must have been laced with fentanyl” because she doesn’t take that drug.
Deputies arrested Estepp and Ashby at a construction site in Chesnee last week. Ashby tried to flee, the incident report says, and then struggled with deputies until they were able to handcuff him. Deputies said they found a suspicious substance on him and may add more charges once they learn what it was.
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[Featured image: Brittany Christina Estepp and Marcus Wayne Anaya Ashby/Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office]
