Texas Druggie Mom Ashley Jones Can't Explain How Infant Daughter Ingested Cocaine

Ashley Paige Jones

Houston, Texas

I don't know what is more disturbing. The fact that an infant ingested drugs, or that Harris County is just now arresting the mother, after the incident happened back in May.

A Houston mother has been charged with endangering a child, after authorities say her baby tested positive for illegal drugs.

Ashley Paige Jones, 30, is currently behind bars at the Harris County Jail under $2,000 bail, prosecutors said.

Jones allegedly took her 1-year-old daughter to a known drug house in the Houston area. Once inside the house, authorities say she left the child with a male while she went to an upstairs bathroom.

When she returned, the mother found a woman she didn't know holding the baby.

"She (Jones) became very upset that this female was holding the (baby)," the complaint states. "She immediately left the location and went home."

The complaint states that several hours later, the infant had chills and a temperature, looked purple and was gasping for air.

Jones took the baby to Texas Children's Hospital, where a drug test was performed. The child tested positive for cocaine and opiates, investigators said.

Court documents state that the baby tested positive for cocaine and opiates at the emergency room. The criminal complaint didn't specify how much was ingested, but medical experts say any amount is extremely dangerous for such a young child.

"It is a stimulant," said Dr. LaTanya Love, a UT Health physician. "It can cause changes their blood pressure. You can have seizures, you can have damage to your lungs (and) impaired mental status. So the complications could be severe."

According to hospital records, the baby's condition "was consistent with abuse or neglect and that (Jones) was unable to account for (the baby's) whereabouts when the cocaine and opiates were ingested," the complaint states.

The defendant was only able to state that she and the (baby) were at a friend's house."

Meanwhile, Child Protective Services placed the baby in foster care and reports she is doing well.