Meth lab found during welfare check of 7-month-old girl
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Police found a shoebox-sized methamphetamine lab in Southeast Portland Friday morning as they were checking on the welfare of a 7-month-old girl.
Two people -- the infant's mother and her boyfriend -- were taken into custody, police said.
Megan Steinle, 26, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree child neglect, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. Jay Silva, 21, was arrested on allegations of first-degree child neglect and delivery of methamphetamine.
Just before 11 a.m., Portland police officers were called to the residence in the 7800 block of Southeast Aspen Summit Drive to perform a welfare check of the baby. It was reported her mother had relapsed on meth, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release.
When officers responded, they found the meth lab in the bathroom. The infant was found safe in the home and taken to a Portland hospital as a precaution, the news release said.
Officers evacuated three neighboring apartments as a precaution.
Investigators from the bureau's drugs and vice division have responded to seize evidence from the meth lab.
Police have not released their names or charges against them.
Steinle and Silva are due in court Monday.
7800 block of Southeast Aspen Summit Dr.
Residents of scenic south Lents.
What a surprise.
can you imagine the number of jails and adoption agengies that would be needed if they indeed caught ALL the parents involved with illegle drug abuse or booze abuse? it boggles the mind. is there any doubt left in any of you of the coming complete collapse of the usa? financially, spiritually and morally?
The govt should make meth illegle, its too dangerous!
What's even crazier is the family that will adopt the baby.. This is such a sad place we live..
Was the welfare check making sure their checks are on time?
@Bert If you are a parent that does not have custody and your child or children live with the other parent and you are concerned for their safety and well being you can call the police and ask them to do a welfare (of the child) check. It could be because you cannot contact them, especially if you live out of the area, or you think they're using drugs etc. The police go and make contact if they can and make sure the child is OK, they check the house and anyone in the house. If everything is OK they call the person who called and tell them what they found. This time they hit the jackpot, the adults were arrested and the child taken into protective care. And by the by, yeah, it's a pretty safe bet she was on welfare, but this welfare check had nothing to do with her being on the dole. It was solely to check on the welfare of the child.
@Just say'n @BertÂ
So, if I am the other parent and have entry to this apartment, I could plant such a "shoebox" there, anywhere, then call for a welfare check? Isn't it possible? Never allow your ex or the "other parent" have access to your home or car. Lock them up. Especially if you are someone who truly wants to straighten your life out. Remember, people keep each other down. And, people give up hope.Â
And if this parent was negligent, she shouldn't be given many chances to get it straight, since a child is involved.
@Sojourner Ruth @Just say'n @Bert  Â
Yeah, it could happen, but I think it rarely actually happens. Most of the time I think a welfare check is called because someone is actually concerned. But, it also can be misused. A guy that grew up with my son had his daughter every other wk.end. And every wk.end that he had her his ex would call for a welfare check. I've been there when they pounded on the door because of her. They never found anything wrong or anything going on. It was just a major pain in the rear and it was her way of getting back at him for insisting on having a relationship with his daughter.
Selfish people who don't deserve to be blessed with a child. Time to adopt out the child before it gets any more attached to these losers.
@The Resistance The infant was with her mother and her mothers boyfriend. The cops went there for a welfare check, which means someone was concerned, probably the father or grandparents and called the police and asked them to do a welfare check. You can know someone is using, but until caught dirty the cops can't do anything. Best case scenario is they are able to get temp. custody until they can get a court date to have the infant removed from the custodial care of the mother.
"Police have not released their names or charges against them."Â I guess the reporter should have read the article...their names were given twice and the charges once....OR were there names and charges released by someone else........
@flyingtime Confused me. I read it twice, thinking I missed something about more arrests, but...
These two haven't been on meth very long, or are dealing but not using. Â Â A seasoned meth freak never looks as good as these two.
"When officers responded, they found the meth lab in the bathroom. The infant was found safe in the home...."
Well isn't that a contradiction in terms. Kinda like finding an infant safe in a home along with a box of nuclear waste.
zombie apocalypse!
Another case for putting birth control in the water.
Ah poor sweet thing, hope momma gets her life turned around.
Sorry, it'll never ever happen!
@jpk Sorry, but it is possible. And for the sake of all, hopefully she will.
Yup! Anything's possible, but don't hold your breath. She's on the way down the slippery slope, I'm afraid.
If making meth go away inconveniences me, that OK. I think the meth makers should be used for dog food at the shelters. What else are they good for?
I thought our wonderful leaders solved this problem when they took away my good Sudafed...
@FreedomRocks You can still get Sudafed -- just ask your doctor for a prescription.  Pretty simple.
@Sundowner @FreedomRocks So what used to be $5 over the counter now requires a doctor visit so lose an hour of work and pay a $20 dollar co-pay. Then go pay $10 dollars for the prescription that use to be $5 dollars to get oh ya that is working out well for everyone but those who need it...
@Julie @Sundowner treating symptoms AND the root are equally important.
@Julie @Sundowner Treating Asthma symptoms and the use of Sudafed are two that don't belong in the same sentence.
Asthma doesn't have a cure. Â But minor allergy symptoms don't require a cure and the symptoms are minimal.
Minor allergy discomfort and the ability to breathe are uncomparable. Â Much like apples and Oranges. Â Sundowner hit the nail on the head on this subject.
@Julie I think you may be missing the point. Sudafed was not banned because you don't need it. It was restricted because it makes it easier for the two idiots pictured in the article,
@Julie  It is a precursor for meth.  Also, effective cold medicine. Â
I do miss effective cold medicine, butI don't think making meth harder to make is a bad thing. Â It certainly wasn't some "big leader" deciding they wanted to make everyone's lives more difficult.Â
@FreedomRocks It's not my argument.  Talk to your insurance company about why they won't cover it....sure wasn't my decision, they're the ones who make those calls.
@Julie The "great leader" was the Oregon Board of Pharmacy, btw.
@Sundowner @Julie Sundowner you also just described about 50% of the prescription medications so are you going to get rid of those for us to?
@Sundowner @FreedomRocks Ya well if you won't to go with the "you don't need" it qualifier then we can get rid of all the over the counter drugs and an awful lot of the prescription drugs....are you really sure that's the road you want to go down with your argument?
@Sundowner @Julie My brother has asthma and he needs to treat symptoms because the root cause is untreatable.Â
@Sundowner @Julie How about we ban TV, black tea and oranges - we do not really need any of that.
@Julie Sudafed isn't a medication that people need.  A needed medication treats the root cause, not the symptoms. Â
@Sundowner @FreedomRocks Banning something just because a great leader decides that I do not need it is somehow a reasonable way for so many Americans.
@FreedomRocks You can almost always get a prescription for Sudogest from your primary care physician by calling their office and asking them to call in a prescription for you.  Last I knew, a 30-day supply was $8.99, and insurance won't cover it because it's considered over-the-counter, even though it isn't in Oregon, Oklahoma and a few other states.  And you don't "need" it.  It relieves symptoms but cures nothing.
Poor baby!Â
First and foremost, just because a young mother is battling a drug addiction, that does NOT mean she doesn't love her daughter, it is evidence though that she does need help getting her life on track and is likely not in the best shape to currently provide care for her daughter. I had not realized that meth labs could be so small, I am glad that the welfare check was ran, that the daughter is safe, and hopefully mom can get the help she needs.
@pdxd The fact that a mother is a druggie means that she is not qualified to be a mother and should be separated from her child. Maybe some day she will come clean, but until then she should be kept away from any children.
@Julie @pdxd That is absolutely not true.  Using your logic, a child born of a mentally ill parent(s) should be immediately removed because they don't qualify as parents.
I work with foster kids. Â Their parents are their parents. Â They love them even though they don't love some of their behaviors. Â
I've known several parents who, once they get a helping hand, are able to go on and be successful parents - some of the best parents I've seen.
Plus, legally, she could continue to have children, anyway.
Big risk for a "shoebox-sized", now you get to lose your kid and go to jail. Dumb a**.Â
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@TheUglyTruth I think you mean parent. It was probably the father or the grandparents who called for the welfare check. It's probably not the first time they've called for a welfare check, but the laws being what they are you can know someone is using and unless they get caught dirty it's almost impossible to get custody transferred away from the custodial parent.
I thought we curbed the meth epidemic by restricting over the counter cold medicines in Oregon. Some how the bad guys still have a supply source.Â
Just like firearms abuse. Once you pass laws, they are magically enforced, huh?
@katufanman  There is not just one "recipe" for meth. If something becomes hard to get they find something else that works. Twelve or so years ago it was a chemical put out by Kodak, if you had your own darkroom you could buy it by the gallon. They cut off that supply, it's been nigh unto impossible to get it for years, so they found something else. And so it goes. As long as there is a market for it there will be an element figuring out how to fill that need.
@katufanman The number of meth labs in Oregon has dropped dramatically since prescriptions for pseudoephedrine started being required 6+ years ago.  Most 'cooks' use a different formula now.
@Sundowner@katufanmanI did a quick search on the web and did not find any data that would support your claim that the meth problem in Oregon became less of a problem since prescriptions for pseudoephedrine started being required.
@ormom @Sundowner I think you are also referring to guys who are actually from Honduras and El Salvador who are "gangas" and were forcibly recruited into wars down there as children and grew into some pretty ruthless broken and frightening criminal adults.
@ormom @Sundowner Mexico is the Walmart of meth driving out the ma and pop labs
@Sundowner Â
There wasn't the same 'organized' level to it. There were a lot more individual cooks, some bigger than others but nothing like the Mexican gangs that are supplying it now. There are 2 kinds of illegal Mexican immigrants here. The ones who come to make a living for their families, work hard, and don't get into trouble. And the criminals who work for the gangs and commit lots of other crimes while in the US as well.
@ormom Are you thinking some kind of organized crime wasn't involved when it was being manufactured here?  What's needed is low-cost or free EFFECTIVE drug treatment, because until that happens the problem won't go away.  It's entirely market-driven.  If there wasn't a market for it, it wouldn't be coming into the country, just like heroin. Â
@Sundowner
It's the organized crime aspect of the Mexican suppliers that concerns me.
@ormom I get that, but it's really unlikely the imported stuff is any worse than the previously "made in La Pine" stuff.  It isn't like the meth cooks in either place have been wearing surgical clothing and using sterile conditions.
@Sundownerr
Now the meth comes up I-5 from Mexico where they can get all the bulk pseudoephedrine they want. Not sure it was much of an improvement to have Mexican gangs making the meth instead of local labs. Oh well.Â
@Julie In states where pseudoephedrine has fallen under the "by prescription only" guidelines, meth labs have dropped dramatically.  That's a good thing.
@Van Tucko @Sundowner @Julie @katufanman A little bully, aren't we?
Â
@Sundowner @Julie @katufanman Interesting. You might convert me on this issue.
@Sundowner @Julie @katufanman Stop with your facts. @Julie will have none of that.
@Julie @katufanman I don't know what version of Google you're using, but try this:  http://www.oregondec.org/OregonMethLabStats.pdf
@katufanman Exactly I'm still post about that because the new Sudafed does not work anywhere near as well as the old did for me. It's a pain to have to go pay a doctor to write a prescription and spend way more to get the real thing because some people have no self control we restrict everyone...
@FreedomRocks @katufanman Once you have a prescription, your doctor can call in refills without seeing you....it's done every single day in every single pharmacy in the state.
@FreedomRocks Jeez, call one of your 5 doctors and get a prescription.  This isn't rocket science and if it's that important to you, pay for it.  Call your insurance company while you're at it -- they're the ones who decide what they will and won't pay for.
@Sundowner @FreedomRocks Ya well none of the 3 ear/nose/throat specialists or the 2 allergists specialists were able to determine a root cause so I am kinda left hanging treating the symptoms aren't I...
@FreedomRocks I don't know a doctor that won't write a prescription for it that won't do a year's supply.  And you shouldn't be taking it year-round.  If you have issues that it relieves but you're suffering from those issues year-round, you need to have a physician determine a different course of therapy. You're treating the symptoms, not the cause.
@Sundowner @FreedomRocks @katufanman Some will and some won't some require you come in every 6 months before they will continue writing it for another 6 months. Not quit as simple for me as you would like everyone to believe...