AUGUSTA — A Sidney couple was indicted Friday as a result of the alleged ingestion of heroin by their year-old daughter last summer.
Jason D. Thomas, 34, and Katie J. Robinson, 23, are charged with unlawful possession of heroin and endangering the welfare of a child on July 17, 2015, in Sidney.
“We’re alleging that the child ingested heroin, and the child was 1 at the time,” said Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney.
The couple was arrested on the charge Dec. 21, 2015.
“The detectives with the Kennebec sheriff’s office put a lot of time into this investigation,” Maloney said Monday.
Maloney said the parents took the child to the hospital at the time, and she tested positive for opiates there.
Sometime afterward, the home was searched and a number of interviews were done, Maloney said.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but it indicates that there is enough evidence to proceed with formal charges and a trial.
Unlawful possession of heroin is a felony and carries a five-year maximum prison term. Endangering the welfare of a children is a misdemeanor with a maximum jail term of 364 days.
Thomas has previous convictions in Kennebec County, including one for drug trafficking in 2006, in which he was sentenced to a 10-year prison term and ordered to serve an initial four years and five months of that with the remainder suspended.
Published records show Robinson was convicted in June 2012 of unlawful possession of oxycodone and trafficking in prison contraband in Augusta and was sentenced to serve an initial 28 days with the remainder of a two-year jail term suspended. She was placed on two years’ probation.
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