POCATELLO — A 33-year-old local woman has been charged with felony injury to a child after police say she gave birth to a baby boy in April that was suffering from opiate and amphetamine withdrawals.
Lydia Anna Hernandez, of Pocatello, was criminally charged on Monday following a Pocatello police investigation that began in April, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal obtained Tuesday.
Pocatello police began investigating the incident on April 6 after it was assigned to a detective following a referral from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
The referral stated the test results from the umbilical cord of Hernandez’s newborn baby tested positive for opiates, specifically morphine, and amphetamines, specifically methamphetamine, and the infant was suffering from withdrawal in the newborn intensive care unit at Portneuf Medical Center, police said.
Police contacted the boy’s father who said he and Hernandez were not in a relationship and that he suspected Hernandez was using drugs while pregnant, though she denied doing so, according to police.
Police interviewed Hernandez by phone and she said her newborn would be suffering from withdrawals because she takes suboxone, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, and that she didn’t know why the boy would be testing positive for meth, police said. Hernandez did not say anything more to police and stated she wanted to speak with an attorney, police added.
Police obtained an initial set of medical records from PMC on April 11 that confirmed the umbilical cord test results included in the referral, police said.
On April 12, police obtained the medical records for Hernandez that stated “urinalysis test showed negative results on all the drug screening, including methamphetamine and morphine.”
In May, police obtained an additional 440 pages of medical records related to Hernandez and the birth of her newborn child. Police noted in reports the word “withdrawal” was listed 206 times throughout the medical records.
Additionally, police noted the newborn required consistent doses of morphine to combat withdrawal from the time he was born on April 1 until April 23.The boy was discharged from the hospital on May 12, police said.
The Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Hernandez on Monday, and she was arrested on the 5800 block of South Fifth Avenue Monday morning.
Hernandez appeared in front of 6th District Judge Steven Thomsen for an arraignment hearing Monday afternoon, during which her bond was set at $10,000.
Prosecutors during an Aug. 22 preliminary hearing will attempt to prove there is enough evidence against her to elevate the case from the magistrate to district court level for trial.
Additionally, prosecutors filed a persistent violator enhancement against Hernandez that could extend any prison sentence levied against her by no less than five years and up to life.
The felony injury to a child charge Hernandez faces carries a penalty of no less than one year and up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
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