HATTIESBURG, Miss. — A Hattiesburg man and woman have been accused in an indictment of felony child abuse for allegedly drugging an 8-yer-old child with Clonidine, a drug first developed for high blood pressure that’s been used for a variety of applications since first prescribed in the 1950s.
The charges relate to an alleged series of incidents in March 2011, according to The American.
The newspaper reports that Sammy Zaccheus West, 23, and Stacey Michelle Halley, 29, were indicted by a Forrest County grand jury Oct. 17 for allegedly drugging the child. Both were served their indictments last week.
Halley waived indictment and is set for trial July 18. West is being held in the Forrest County Jail on misdemeanor possession of controlled substance warrants from Petal police.
The indictment accuses West and Halley of giving the child Clonidine, a drug used as a sedative, a supplement to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stimulants, a veterinary anesthetic, a treatment for Tourette’s Syndrome and an aid to ease chemical dependency withdrawal, among other uses.
Hattiesburg Police Department spokesman Lt. Eric Proulx said officers got a tip about child abuse and investigated. Proulx declined to release more information to protect the victim.