ELKTON — A woman is facing criminal charges filed by investigators who allege that her 5-year-old daughter had been exposed to fentanyl and other drugs inside the mother’s Elkton residence, according to Cecil County District Court records.
The suspect — Andrea Diane Wilkie, 41, of Gray Mount Circle — also is facing charges relating to allegations by investigators that squalid and unsafe conditions existed inside the Elkton residence in which she and her child were living, police reported.
As part of the investigation, a hair follicle test was performed on the girl and the results showed the presence of “amphetamines, cocaine and fentanyl” in the child, court records allege. Investigators note in court records that the hair follicle test can detect “drug use or exposure up to 90 days before the test.”
During a court-approved search of the suspect’s Gray Mount Circle residence, investigators found and confiscated a small amount of suspect methamphetamine, a “bundle of heroin-fentanyl and a sizable bag of marijuana,” court records allege.
Crime lab technicians later analyzed the seized substances, which were scientifically determined to be methamphetamine and fentanyl, court records show. The suspect marijuana was not analyzed, police reported.
Investigators also confiscated an assortment of drug paraphernalia, including at least 20 syringes, packaging materials and blue rubber straps commonly used to constrict the arm during the injection of drugs, according to the charging document.
“Even the children’s rooms contained syringe caps and small baggies along with used and unused Narcan dispensers. There was a distinct unpleasant odor in the house that I could not attribute to any one thing, but was more due to the unclean state of the house,” Elkton Police Department Det. Justin Beamer, lead investigator, summarized in the charging document. (Narcan is a spray that is used to reverse the effects of heroin when a person is suffering an overdose.)
Court records indicate that officials removed the girl from the Gray Mount Circle residence and that she has been placed in foster care.
Beamer responded to the suspect’s Gray Mount Circle residence on Jan. 23, after receiving a “child neglect” referral from Cecil County Child Protective Services agents, who were concerned for the welfare of her 5-year-old daughter, court records show.
The referral report alleged that Wilkie is a drug addict; that she and her boyfriend cook and sell methamphetamine out of the residence and that “there are random people in and out of the home,” according to court records.
In addition, the CPS complainant reported that whenever a home visit is made, the girl is “dirty, unkept and reports she hasn’t showered or changed her clothes in a long time,” court records allege.
Court records indicate that Wilkie and her residence had been the focal point of Cecil County Child Advocacy Center and CPS investigations, according to the charging document.
One section of that charging document outlines, “It should be noted that there have been 4 separate referrals from Child Protective Services that have been investigated since April 2023 at that residence. Another 4 referrals were made and screened for investigation. Those reports all allege that there is controlled dangerous substance (drug) abuse occurring in the home around the child and that there also is CDS (drug) paraphernalia in reach of the child.”
An acquaintance of Wilkie’s surreptitiously took videos of the girl inside different parts of the residence and provided the footage to investigators, according to court records, which indicate, “The videos were taken in a way to highlight the issues inside the house.”
“In the videos, syringes and needle caps can be seen on the table. The downstairs area is cluttered and covered in clothes. One of the videos shows (the girl) walking by the table with needles and the person taking the video tells her to go upstairs because ‘there’s bad things down here.’ In the last video, the person asks (Wilkie) to let her take (the girl),” court records allege.
The charging document notes that the main living area of the house was cluttered — but not to the point that it prevented walking passage through it — but then alleges that “the rest of the upstairs was just dirty with every room having an assortment of grime, cigarette butts, small trash and dirt” and that there was prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia “within easy reach of children in most rooms.”
Wilkie, who was arrested on June 19, is facing nine criminal charges, including second-degree custodial child abuse, neglect of a minor, reckless endangerment and drug offenses, court records show.
She spent approximately six days in the Cecil County Detention Center on no bond, before she was released June 25 on an unsecured $5,000 personal bond after a bail review hearing that day, according to court records, which show that Visiting Kent County District Court Judge John E Nunn III presided over that proceeding.
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