Woman charged after allegedly admitting she does drugs in front of 5-year-old

GRAFTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — A woman was charged after she and a dog-bitten child walked more than 6 miles on an active railroad track in Taylor County with no shoes on.

On Aug. 23, officers with the Grafton Police Department were near the IGA on Maple Avenue when they observed a woman “with bright pink markings on her face wearing no shoes” who was with a young child “covered in dirt and wearing a single shoe,” according to a criminal complaint.

The woman, later identified as Amy Johnson, 42, of Thornton, told officers “that she needed help” because “she though ‘they gave her heroin instead of meth’,” while making “quick, jerky movements,” officers said.

Officers said that Johnson “was restless and hyperactive” and “also seemed to be hallucinating.” She also told officers that the young child “had stayed at two different houses over the past two days” at “homes with drugs spread all over the coffee table,” according to the complaint.

Officers also learned that Johnson and the child “had walked from Thornton to Grafton along the railroad tracks,” and the juvenile told officers about being “bitten by a big black dog” […] “on his left forearm,” officers said.

During the conversation, Johnson told officers “that she wanted to go to drug rehabilitation” and that “she does drugs in front of [the juvenile],” according to the complaint.

After Johnson and the child were transported to Grafton City Hospital by EMS workers, “staff indicated that the child would have to receive a rabies shot” if officers were unable to locate the dog that had bitten the child, officers said.

Officers located the dog, which was vaccinated, at a residence and learned “the distance by way the two would have walked to arrive at the address where the two were located was approximately 6.2 miles on an actively used railway system,” according to the complaint.

Johnson has been charged with child neglect creating substantial risk of bodily injury. She is being held in Tygart Valley Regional Jail on $50,000 bond.

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