Investigators: Mom arrested after baby tests positive for meth

GREENE COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) - Greene County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Paragould woman Friday after they say her baby tested positive for methamphetamine.

Detective Don Crittenden said in court documents that on Jan. 14 he was called to NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro regarding an 11-month-old baby brought to the emergency room with possible COVID-19.

“The child was acting erratic in nature and was agitated,” Crittenden stated in the probable cause affidavit.

When hospital staff began to draw blood for testing, the detective said the infant’s father, David Walker, walked out of the hospital.

When the bloodwork came back positive for meth, Crittenden said hospital staff told the baby’s mother, 27-year-old Brittany Walker, they would have to contact the Department of Human Services.

According to the court documents, Walker then asked the staff to watch the child while she went to the parking lot to inform her husband.

“Hospital staff said she was gone for approximately 20 minutes and returned,” the affidavit stated.

When she returned, DHS staff tested Brittany Walker.

“She tested positive for methamphetamine,” the documents stated.

Crittenden and another officer then took Walker outside the hospital and arrested her.

“I did a search of the parking lot and was unable to locate Mr. Walker,” Crittenden said.

After reviewing the affidavit, Greene County District Court Judge Daniel Stidham found probable cause existed to charge Brittany Walker with first-degree child endangerment, introduction of a controlled substance into the body of another person, and exposing a child to a chemical substance or methamphetamine.

Stidham set her bond at $25,000 cash-only.

Editor’s Note: We originally identified the suspect’s husband as Charles Walker. According to the court document, his name is David Walker. We regret the error.