Woman indicted for child endangerment

The November session of the Franklin County grand jury indicted a Russellville woman who was arrested in April after her two-year-old grandson tested positive for having cocaine in his system.
Deanna Fretwell, 38, 804 Waterloo Rd., Russellville, was indicted for chemical endangerment of a child, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.

According to Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett, the arrest occurred on April 24.

Hargett said officers were contacted that week by the Franklin County Department of Human Resources concerning a report they had received about the welfare of the child in question.
Hargett said DHR officials informed officers the two-year-old child had tested positive for cocaine.
Hargett said the amount that showed up in the boy’s system wasn’t enough to harm him, but it was still enough to be present in testing, so investigators began looking into the case.
During the course of the investigation, Hargett said everyone living at the residence was drug-tested and Fretwell was the only person who also tested positive for cocaine.
Fretwell’s grandson and his mother were reportedly living with Fretwell at the time of the incident.
Hargett said it’s believed that the boy ingested powdered cocaine while living at the residence.
“This is just a sad situation,” Hargett said.
“People don’t realize when they have drugs lying around their home that it’s very easy for a child to get into these things. I’m just glad the child wasn’t severely hurt because of the illegal and irresponsible actions that were taking place where he was living.”
Officials said the boy was placed in the custody of DHR.
Rushing said Fretwell’s case would be placed on the criminal trial docket in April.