Hoover police obtain child endangerment charge against pregnant woman testing positive for drugs

Hoover police today obtained an arrest warrant for a 32-year-old Morris woman whom police say endangered her unborn child by taking methamphetamine and opiates while pregnant.

The woman, identified as Melissa Sue Metzler, originally was arrested by Hoover police on July 3 and charged with theft of property and possession of drug paraphernalia after she was caught shoplifting at the Target at The Grove shopping center, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said.

While she was being taken to jail, Metzler told officers she was pregnant and asked to be taken to the hospital for stomach pains, Czeskleba said. She was treated and released from the hospital the same day and then booked into the Hoover Jail and released after posting bond, he said.

Hoover detectives subpoenaed Metzler’s medical records, which confirmed she was 16 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for methamphetamine and opiates, Czeskleba said.

After obtaining a warrant for chemical endangerment of a child today, Hoover detectives received information that Metzler might be in Gardendale today, so Gardendale police arrested her at 12:25 p.m., Czeskleba said. She was being held in the Jefferson County Jail this afternoon.

“When this suspect was arrested in July, there was clear evidence that she was abusing drugs,” Czeskleba said. “In the state of Alabama, it is a felony to expose a child to a controlled or chemical substance. To have someone using opiates and methamphetamine while pregnant is certainly troubling, but we are hopeful that this individual will seek help to get clean. We will do whatever we can to assist her in finding the resources that are available.”