Police: Pregnant woman found snorting heroin at treatment clinic

Clark County

Related Photos

Rosemary Cundiff

Discussion

March 1, 2013

Police: Pregnant woman found snorting heroin at treatment clinic

By GARY POPP gary.popp@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Mar 01, 2013, 06:45 PM EST

CLARK COUNTY — A woman who is seven months pregnant was found snorting heroin in the bathroom of Southern Indiana Treatment Center, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Department.

Rosemary Cundiff, 24, of Louisville, was seen in a patient bathroom about 8:45 a.m. Feb. 19 and a Clark County sheriff’s deputy, working-off duty security at the facility, was alerted of the situation. The deputy then spoke with Cundiff and she admitted to snorting the heroin off of a sink in the restroom, the deputy reported.

“She [Cundiff] then provided me with a small, clear Ziploc bag containing a white-powder residue that was hidden in her bra,” according to the probable-cause affidavit. “She informed that was all she had and also handed me a red-colored cut piece of straw that also had the same residue.”

The deputy also reported Cundiff said she was seven months pregnant. She was taken into the Michael L. Becher Adult Correctional Complex from the treatment center and released the same day on her own recognizance without posting bond.

The drug treatment center is located at 7509 Charlestown Pike, Charlestown, near Salem-Noble Road.

Cundiff was charged in Clark County Circuit Court No. 2 with possession of a narcotic drug, a class D felony, and possession of paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor.

Before Cundiff appeared in court, the deputy had also preliminarily charged Cundiff with neglect of a dependent.

An official from the prosecutor’s explained that, according to state statute, Cundiff’s conduct involving her unborn child did not meet the criteria of neglect of a dependent.

Kristen Hayes, a public relations representative of CRC, the treatment center’s parent company, was contacted in California on Friday. She said the clinic exclusively provides out-patient treatment, and said could not confirm if Cundiff was at the facility as a patient or if she was in the process of applying to receive treatment.

Hayes said there is no set protocol to prevent illegal substances from being brought into the facility, but said security is provided during operating hours.

“There is no state or federal regulations to pat down everyone as they come into the clinic,” Hayes said, adding the traffic in and out of the facility is so large that individual screening of people coming into the facility has logistical problems.