Utah parents admit to giving newborn narcotics to cover up drug dependency
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jul 25, 2017
According to the police, Christenson and Wilde gave withdrawal heroin drugs to their newborn, hours after their baby daughter was born, at the hospital on April 9, KUTV reported.
Because they knew their daughter would be born an addict, Christenson and Wilde later told investigators "they talked to friends about how to mask signs of drug dependence in an infant, and that they discussed this issue with each other", the sheriff's office claimed in a statement. They did it when hospital staffers were not looking. She is now in the hospital.
Police said that on June 26, the couple tried to shoplift from a Spanish Fork Walmart while with their newborn and three older children.
Wilde was seen on store surveillance video taking items from the store's shelves, then trying to return them for cash as if he had bought them.
Walmart employees said the suspect, 29-year-old Colby Glen Wilde, went into the store with his 2-month-old daughter.
Wilde made a run for it, dangling his two-month old daughter in a auto seat. He ran into the store's doors, which cause the vehicle seat to drop to the ground and roll over.
Panicked Wilde grabbed the vehicle seat and tried to flee through another door.
As witnesses tried to stop him, Wilde handed the vehicle seat and his baby to a stranger, then ran to his auto and sped away, according to deputies.
The cowardly dad then thrust the vehicle seat with his daughter inside into the hands of a stranger, rushed to his auto and drove off.
Authorities took custody of the girl and her three brothers, aged two, four and eight.
When deputies caught up with him in a parking lot close by, he was arrested for DUI, driving without insurance, meth, heroin and having drug paraphernalia. She was arrested on an outstanding warrant, while her kids were taken into custody.
Police searched the couple's home and found drug paraphernalia and Suboxone pills in various areas of the house - including next to a cot and child's cup.
On June 28, authorities said they were contacted a woman caring for Wilde and Christenson's pets. The infant girl was evaluated at a local hospital.
Wilde's children all tested positive for methamphetamine while his baby daughter is also tested positive for heroin and morphine.
Authorities contacted the eldest boy's father who took custody of the child. The parents of the other three children are Wilde and Christenson.
Wilde fled the scene - after dropping a vehicle seat holding his infant child multiple times - but was arrested a short time later, according to police, who charged him with driving under the influence of drugs, possession of heroin and methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving without insurance, theft and child abuse. Cannon said when deputies served it on Tuesday, they found Wilde inside his residence smoking heroin. Both are being held on bond amounts of $10,000 cash-only each. As part of this case investigators developed information that Wilde and Christenson were using drugs again and they obtained another search warrant for the house in Elk Ridge.
With his 2-month-old daughter in a auto seat, Wilde took items off the shelves and then brought them to customer service as if he had already purchased them, looking for a refund, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.