Pregnant woman found carrying narcotics inside her body
Published 9:29 am Tuesday, December 31, 2019
A woman who is eight months pregnant was arrested on drug trafficking charges Saturday following a traffic stop by local law enforcement officers. She was also found to be carrying a crystal substance inside of her body.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Aileen Cecealia Berry, 28, of Lincoln County, was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Christopher Thomas Heath, 42, of Louisville, when deputies stopped them on Stanford Road in Danville.
Two digital scales and several small bags containing a powder substance were located in the vehicle, and a small bag containing a crystal-like substance was found on Berry.
Because of her pregnancy, Berry was taken to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center to be medically cleared before her arrest. At the hospital, the staff located a large bag containing crystal like substance inside of Berry’s body.
She was arrested and charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia; tampering with physical evidence; first-degree promoting contraband; and first-degree wanton endangerment.
As of Monday morning, she was being held on a $15,000 cash bond.
Heath was arrested and charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, heroin; possession of drug paraphernalia; and no liability insurance. He was being held on a $5,000 cash bond.
Sheriff’s K9 Dep. Tanner Abbott and Danville Police Officer David Lewis worked the scene.
On Monday, Sheriff Derek Robbins said it was “not unusual at all” for a pregnant woman to be arrested on drug charges.
“It just shows how addictive and horrible these drugs are when they get a hold of you.”
Being addicted makes people do things they wouldn’t normally, he added.
If the bag of narcotics had ruptured inside of Berry, it would have killed her and her baby, Robbins said. “It’s sad.”