Maggie Jean Worton Pleads Not Guilty In Son's Meth-Laced Breastmilk Death

HUMBOLDT, Calif. — A Northern California woman has pleaded not guilty to killing her 6-week-old baby by feeding him methamphetamine-laced breast milk.

Prosecutors say 26-year-old Maggie Jean Wortman of Loleta used methamphetamine and passed it to her two children while breast-feeding.

Detectives arrested Wortman last week after a two-month investigation found her son died in November due to "methamphetamine toxicity."

Wortman entered her plea Tuesday in Humboldt County Superior Court. She is charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felony child endangerment.

The Times-Standard of Eureka reports that authorities placed Wortman's 19-month-old daughter in protective custody after she tested positive for methamphetamine.

Wortman faces a maximum prison sentence of nine years if convicted on all counts.

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Information from: Times-Standard, http://www.times-standard.com

Comments

[Supersteel]

09:59 AM on 01/31/2011

So she basically killed her baby because her drugs were more important.
 
Depraved indifference. That's murder.
 
This woman needs to be put down so that no more kids suffer from her inability to control her addiction and poor parenting.

[AddictionWatch]

02:26 PM on 01/30/2011

Yes this is a big concern for sure, but many do not realize that alot of breast feeding mothers are presribed very potent prescription drugs, ant-depressants and painkillers while pregnant or breast feeding and being told that the drug toxins are not passed on to the child. This proves that not the case. Its unfortunate this mother of course bears this responsibitly of killing, had she been given truthful information about all drugs may never have become addicted in the first place.

[Rochelle MacDonald]

02:14 PM on 01/29/2011

This makes me wonder how pro-lifers react to situations like this one.

[Tresco]

09:03 AM on 01/31/2011

Makes me want to take the beeotch our an bust a cap in her head.

[Chyna Doll]

02:41 PM on 01/28/2011

There are few things in this world that annoy me more than a meth head. More thatn likey she was already on public asistance (and before anyoen says o how can you judge i live in a state that is in the top 3 of meth production so ive seen a lot of meth heads) so why wasnt she using the free formula she could have gotten

[Jennifer Rocque Martin]

12:00 PM on 01/27/2011

Let me leave all of you with an educated guess, This lady had WIC a serice here in California that will buy your formula for you. Formula cost 10 dollars a can. She sold it like many addicts do for 5 dollars a can and thats how she bought her durgs

[Jennifer Rocque Martin]

11:32 AM on 01/27/2011

only nine years? no wonder this stuff happens all the time.
Was formula not an option? Guess it would have cut into her drug money.
Her dealer should be found a publicly hanged. The father hanged as well
The mother should be forced into a life of slavery, and sold as a slave.
WE HAVE A THING CALLED WIC ....google it WIC

[Jennifer Rocque Martin]

01:07 PM on 01/27/2011

What kind of slavery you ask? Well its simple. We should build large warehouses for those that abuse women and children, and in the centre of this warehouse will be a generator, connected to that generator will be large poles. It should be these type of peoples job to grab ahold of the poles and walk in a circle, thus generating free power for the rest of us.
yep, two problems solved

[Tresco]

09:07 AM on 01/31/2011

They could fight in gladitorial games for the amusment of the rest of us. Put it on PPV. The proceeds going to help abused women and children and pregnant needy women.

[thepoliticalcat]

05:37 PM on 01/27/2011

I understand that the topic upsets you, but jailing this woman is simply an expense to the taxpayer that will not improve her life or the lives of her children in the least. Nine years from now, she'll be 35 and she'll still have a meth problem and her kids will have been shuttled in and out of foster warehousing (you really can't call it "care") and they'll probably have a problem themselves, with drugs or violence. Why can't we divert these low-level offenders to programs that will help them get rid of the underlying drug problem? Other countries do it. Portugal's just started experimenting with diversion instead of imprisonment and finding it's viable and ultimately more beneficial for all involved, including society at large. Why think of causing this woman even more suffering? Life is not fun and games for drug addicts, just as for everyone else.

[mp146]

11:05 PM on 01/29/2011

X2

[Eileenla]

11:27 AM on 01/27/2011

Those who are attacking this woman clearly have no understanding of the powerful nature of a meth addiction. It's not just a mental craving; it's a physiological need that must be successfully dealt with if a person is to move beyond the drug. This woman needs treatment, not prison. While the death of her child is tragic and it's important her other child be removed from her custody for safety reasons, nobody benefits by imprisoning her.

[Jennifer Rocque Martin]

11:45 AM on 01/27/2011

give me a break. we have a thing called WIC she could have gotten formula for FREE
Drug addiction is a selfish disorder, one where you focus only on serving yourself.
Such is why we have WIC here in California.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS

[thepoliticalcat]

05:42 PM on 01/27/2011

Maybe she's one of those people who thinks breast is best for baby. It's not our job to judge her, I'm sure she's had to deal with that all her life. The thing is, as a society we are more focused on punishment than re-education. Re-education has no immediately visible short-term benefits, punishment does. You can talk all "tough on crime" and get re-elected if you jail people and ignore all the attendant fallout. It doesn't actually help anybody except the prison privatization firms that get paid $X per head for all new prisoners, so they happily throw funds at all these "tough on crime" politicians who keep their eye on the short-term victory of the current political race and ignore the fact that drug-addicted people tend to raise children with a tendency to addiction themselves (based on the physiological addictiveness of the drug and daily reinforced by observations and imitation of the behaviours of the drug-addicted parents), who thus continue the cycle forever. The occasional exceptions to the rule don't change the rule. But that long-term issue is the one we need to address. Otherwise, we're just slapping plasters on the cracks while the faults that cause them continue to grow.

[sabelmouse]

08:59 AM on 01/28/2011

did she know the drug would get through?
did she try to stay of it but failed.
did she suffer from post natal depression?
there are so many ifs and whys. who are you to judge her by the way?

[RationalCaliGirl]

12:51 PM on 01/27/2011

Meth is no different than any other addiction, The mental addiction is much stronger than the physical addiction. Which is why most addicts are always addicted to something whether it be drugs, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, exercise.........

[Jaeshik]

04:13 PM on 01/27/2011

Drugs, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco are physical addictions. They're all consumable.
Sex, work and excercise to mention a few, are mental. I wouldn't place one above the other for 'which is stronger'. That depends on the person itself (brain activity and system circulation) due to his/her lifestyle.

[thepoliticalcat]

05:49 PM on 01/27/2011

Geneticists are now finding that certain combinations in our genetic makeup have a tendency to cause certain physical addictions. Not all people with that genetic makeup will necessarily become addicts. But between the genetic predisposition and the correct stimulus in the environment that develops such genetic expression to its fullest potential, we do have a situation where some of us must struggle harder to achieve the same goals. And yes, apparently the only successful strategy to combat addiction appears to be to substitute a different, healthier addiction. If you know anything about 12-step programs, you know that they turn into an addiction just as important as the substance they purport to oppose. But it's better to have people going to AA four nights a week than stumbling around in bars for the same period of time. I believe I've read somewhere that meth is more physically addictive than many other drugs that people use. However, our attitude towards drugs is utterly hypocritical. Throughout human history all humans have used some substance or other to change their perception of reality. We should accept that and look to solutions that treat recreational use as an accepted reality and treat addictions as a particular symptom of a genetic combination that is treatable by medicine and therapy, rather than a means to make profits from private jails and taxpayers.

[leazzel]

11:19 AM on 01/27/2011

I'm surprized newborn deaths via breastmilk, doesn't happen more often. Usually women are given heavy painkiller's while in the hospital and also when they return home. Those narcotics are also being passed through breastmilk.

[MMRDO]

11:31 AM on 01/27/2011

Methamphetamine is much more dangerous than medical grade substances.

[leazzel]

11:47 AM on 01/27/2011

One is an upper the other is a downer. Both are harmful to an infant via breastmilk,

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:35 AM on 01/27/2011

Actually, most hospitals don't given "heavy painkillers" in the hospital or for the return home. They may be given some...but not a significant amount...and not enough to keep it in their system long enough to cause harm to the infant.

This is a simple case of a woman who never should have had children. A selfish, drug-addicted, piece of garbage. She should be locked up and sterilized.

[leazzel]

11:52 AM on 01/27/2011

Wrong. Women if they choose are given pain meds while giving birth and after. And if she's had a C-section, most definitely. Most likely percocet with a re-fill.

[hippynanainblingland]

12:37 PM on 01/27/2011

Interesting! It seems that all drug addicts are pieces of garbage to you, regardless of the life circumstances that led to said addiction.
May you never suffer the consequences of a great ongoing difficulty to test your strength against self-medication to be able to withstand life's (oftentimes unfair) trials and tribulations.

[alahnar]

10:43 AM on 01/27/2011

Send her to prison, and then SEND THIS WOMAN TO TREATMENT! She obviously loved her children, hence the nursing, and she is obviously VERY ill. She killed a person she loved deeply because she couldn't stop using meth. She needs help, and she also needs to be held accountable for the life she took. Other women need to know that there's HELP if you're on drugs and want to stop to breast feed!

SO SAD!!!! :-(

[MMRDO]

11:27 AM on 01/27/2011

Stop to breast feed? Stop to have children! If she was unwilling to part with the habit she should have parted with her child.

[thepoliticalcat]

05:57 PM on 01/27/2011

When a person is under the influence of drugs, their periods of rational thought are few and far between. I doubt she had the wherewithal to frame the problems in such terms.

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:35 AM on 01/27/2011

"she obviously loved her children"? Are you serious? Loved them so much she couldn't put down the drugs! Loved one of them to DEATH!

[Jennifer Rocque Martin]

12:30 PM on 01/27/2011

your right, thats why we in society need a better safety net to catch these situations.

[RJKERB08]

10:28 AM on 01/27/2011

What is truly amazing is that some people try for years to have children with no luck at all and this woman pollutes her body and is able to have children.
The real disgusting part is that she is too ignorant to understand that what she puts into her body she will put into those babies with milk made from her body. That whole notion of Garbage in Garbage out.
I am ashamed that this woman is part of my generation or part of the human species for that matter. Stories like this SOMETIMES make me wish that there was a license needed to have children.

[hulagirrrl]

10:43 AM on 01/27/2011

Spot on, and I also am ashamed that we have people in this country who are so eager to make money to forget all conscience and sell or produce these drugs.

[hippynanainblingland]

12:47 PM on 01/27/2011

And I'm even more ashamed that the PTBs, supposedly the best of the best, continue to waste our money on the useless drug war that they themselves created to stuff their own pockets while destabilizing the masses, all the while enjoying the pleasures of recreational drugs themselves whenever they can get away with it . . . (I grant that not all of those that comprise the powers-that-be are drug users, though enough of them are to make the hypocrisy galling).

[maxben]

10:50 AM on 01/27/2011

Not surprising with the level of education in the USA and America's lack of social programs for the poor who are most likely to be in this position. I feel bad for this woman as she clearly didn't know and obviously did not mean to kill her baby.

[JtownesquireAgain]

11:36 AM on 01/27/2011

Bull! It's not liek she thought she was taking vitamins! She was selfish and wouldn't put down the drugs for the sake of her children!

[RJKERB08]

11:36 AM on 01/27/2011

Exactly, our education systems are failing us but ignorance is not an excuse. She didn't mean to kill her baby but she did. I don't know her background but unless she grew up under a rock she did have access to this education.
I hope this woman gets help but its scary that someone who grew up in the times of Drug Awareness Resistance Education or DARE would do a drug that is so ravaging to everything in a person's life.

[abuja19]

10:24 AM on 01/27/2011

She should be locked away for more than 9 years.

[AnnArky]

10:46 AM on 01/27/2011

9 and a half.

[hiox]

10:07 AM on 01/27/2011

9 years? she should get life.

[mp146]

11:20 PM on 01/29/2011

Why? it was not premeditated murder.. she should get help with her addiction first.. actually it would have been even better if she got treatment before the child was born..

[HenryMcMullen3]

09:57 AM on 01/27/2011

Sounds like involuntary manslaughter to me.

[Renee Johnson]

10:21 AM on 01/27/2011

Sounds voluntary to me..she knew she was using meth and that it was in her system..she knew that whatever is in her goes to the kids thru her breast milk...well I guess that is one way to keep the babies calm.

[maxben]

10:51 AM on 01/27/2011

Did she know? I doubt it somehow.
I think the whole "my baby is dead" thing is more than enough punishment to the poor woman.

[nearold]

11:11 AM on 01/27/2011

Addiction isn't "voluntary".

[llfutrell]

09:17 AM on 01/27/2011

WTF is wrong with people??? No mercy. Send her to the slammer.

[moonflowerjewelry]

08:58 AM on 01/27/2011

This story just broke my heart.
I hope that there is support for the other child, a good home, not just a leaky foster care system that will chew her up and spit her out at age 18. That poor little thing will always be predisposed to addiction.

[Larry Motuz]

10:23 AM on 01/27/2011

F & F from a chewed and spit out person.

[thepoliticalcat]

06:06 PM on 01/27/2011

Congratulations for your courage in sharing that. I hope your life has improved, and that it continues to. Society should hang its collective head in shame that we let our own people fall through the major cracks in our supposed compassion.

[thepoliticalcat]

06:05 PM on 01/27/2011

Thank you for your compassion. That poor kid. I wish treatment could be some combination of parenting classes, medical therapy to reduce the need for the drug, psychotherapy to treat the underlying symptom causing the addiction, and temporary restraint so that she is removed from the drug-associated surroundings until she understands what she has done and can begin to restructure her life and repay her debt to her poor child and to society.