NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Police were called to Grand Strand Medical Center Friday after a 2-year-old from Madison, Indiana tested positive for amphetamines.
City spokesperson Pat Dowling said North Myrtle Beach Police arrested the mother days later for lying to detectives and medical staff and charged her with unlawful neglect of a child.
The police report from North Myrtle Beach Police says that on Friday afternoon the child “began to act strange and (was) throwing a tantrum.”
The boy’s mother tried to comfort the child to no avail and when he began throwing up, she took him to the hospital.
At the hospital, blood and urine samples were collected and doctors discovered that the 2-year-old had amphetamines in his system.
The report says detectives asked if anyone in the family had access to any medications that contained amphetamines and the mother, 23-year-old Elizabeth McCollum, said that she had no knowledge of anyone using amphetamines.
When officers told the mother that DSS would ask for a drug screening from her as part of their investigation, McCollum admitted that she had used Adderall, an amphetamine, the last two or three days and she did not have a prescription.
She claimed that she had an eating disorder and was using the pills, given to her by friends, from time to time, the report said.
Because McCollum hid the fact that she was taking an amphetamine during the initial police investigation, she was provided with Miranda advisement and signed a waiver of rights.
After she confessed she lied about the Adderall, she told police she thought the child accidentally might have taken the drug when she found a pill that had a bite mark and a piece missing.
The report claims she told police that she “disposed of the medicine bottle with pills and shortly after took her son to Grand Strand Medical Center.”
Investigators say the doctor and nurse assigned to the case agreed that McCollum placed her son at greater risk by lying to medical staff and police about the Adderall.
On Sunday morning, the suspect turned herself in to the North Myrtle Beach Detention Center after they issued a warrant for her arrest. She was charged with unlawful neglect of a child and held under a $2,000 bond.
Booking information reports that McCollum was released from the detention center around 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
The police report made no mention of the condition of the 2-year-old.
