Inset: Cheyenne Pope (Duval County Jail). Background: UF Health Hospital in Jacksonville, the location where officials reported the victim received treatment following the ingestion of cocaine and fentanyl (Google Maps).
A 28-year-old mother from Florida was detained after her baby was hospitalized due to consuming cocaine and fentanyl. The mother, Cheyenne Pope, claimed that the drugs accidentally fell from her bag onto the infant’s play mat.
Cheyenne Pope was arrested last week and is facing charges for child neglect that led to serious harm, as indicated by court documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
As per a probable cause statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, officers responded to a report of possible child neglect at the University of Florida Health Hospital on the 600 block of West 8th Street at around 11:56 p.m. on Sept. 19. The situation was initially brought to the sheriff’s attention by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), which reported an infant at the hospital had tested positive for drugs.
The responding deputy recalled what happened at the hospital.
The affidavit detailed that upon their arrival, deputies spoke with a DCF representative, who relayed that the child had been hospitalized showing signs of lethargy. It was later confirmed that the infant had fentanyl and cocaine in their system. Cheyenne Pope was at the hospital and reportedly confessed to being a drug user, admitting to staff that she had a small quantity of drugs in her bag that may have ended up on her child’s play mat.
Authorities noted that the baby was transported by ambulance and tested positive for both fentanyl and cocaine. A hospital floor manager informed investigators that Naloxone had not been given to the child, who was in “stable condition,” although his vital signs had not completely stabilized.
In her initial interview with investigators at the hospital, Pope claimed that her son had been “playing on his play mat” for about 20 minutes and she “did not see him come in contact with any drugs.” She said she noticed that the boy appeared “lethargic” at about 3:30 p.m., and she believed he was dehydrated, per the affidavit.
Police then interviewed a woman who lives at the residence with Pope and the victim. The woman, whose relationship to Pope was redacted, said she spoke with Pope after her son was hospitalized and Pope told her “she had been using drugs” that day and “the drugs had been in the backpack.”
“The suspect had told [the woman] she was getting something out of the backpack and the empty drug bag fell out of the backpack,” the affidavit says.
Another woman, identified as Pope’s sister, allegedly told police that she had spoken to Pope about the baby being hospitalized. During the conversation, Pope again allegedly admitted to using drugs “for the past two months” including earlier that day.
In a post-Miranda interview, Pope allegedly said that she had given the victim multiple bottles and changed him into multiple diapers, all of which had been kept in the same backpack as the drugs.
Pope was subsequently arrested and charged with child neglect. She is currently being held in the Duval County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond, records show. She is currently scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment on Oct. 14.
