Police: Child tests positive for meth, mother indicted

GRAYSVILLE — A Rhea County child tested positive for methamphetamine, and now the mother is facing several drug-related charges, according to Rhea County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Rocky Potter.

Dana Brown Spurlock, from the Cranmore Cove area, was indicted by the Rhea County Grand Jury in early February, and she was arrested last week, Potter said.

Investigators with the Rhea County Sheriff’s Department said that in October 2023, the state department of children’s services received an anonymous tip about a child present in an active drug house in the Cranmore Cove area.

Potter said that initially, officials with the department of children’s services attempted to contact Spurlock but were unsuccessful; however, he said that sheriff’s deputies were able to eventually make contact with Spurlock.

“We did ask her to submit to a drug screen, and she failed it,” Potter said. “She also failed a second test a few weeks later.”

He said that a hair follicle test was performed on a child under the age of 2-years-old and that the child tested positive for both amphetamines and methamphetamine.

“It was a very high dose of meth,” Potter said.

Investigators took their information to the Rhea County Grand Jury in early February, Potter said, and indictments were handed down. Spurlock was arrested last week.

According to jail records, Spurlock was charged with driving without a license, aggravated child endangerment, maintaining a drug house and the casual exchange of a Schedule II controlled substance.

Potter said Spurlock’s bond was set at $470,000, and jail records state that she was still incarcerated as of press time Tuesday.