Shooting up daughter nets five years
BROOKSVILLE –
Meghan White said she was just trying to help her daughter by injecting an opiate into her arm last year.
White, 37, signed a plea deal Friday that will send her to prison for five years on charges of child abuse and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
White, then a transient, was picked up on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm on Dec. 6, 2012, and was released on $5,000 bond about 10 days later.
According to an arrest report, White was staying at the Days Inn in early May of last year with her daughter, who was 16 at the time.
While interviewed by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, the victim said her mother told her “you do not know what you are missing by not injecting Dilaudid.”
Dilaudid is an opiate drug similar to morphine.
White gave her daughter Methadone the next day to ward off sickness, the affidavit reads.
After her arrest, White admitted to injecting her daughter with the drug.
In court documents, White said she only shot up her daughter so she didn’t hurt herself.
On Dec. 27, 2012, White pleaded not guilty to the charge of aggravated child abuse, which carries up to a 30-year prison sentence.
White, still out on bond, was picked up in early February on charges of possession of methamphetamine, and has been in the Hernando County Jail ever since.
White pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of child abuse on Friday, a third-degree felony, per the plea deal, as well as a possession of a controlled substance charge.
She will receive a five-year sentence for each charge, served concurrently.
Judge Anthony Tatti asked White if she had anything to say before sentencing. When it appeared White had nothing to say, the judge asked her why she did what she did to her daughter.
“I’ve been a junkie for years and shooting up since 2003,” White said.
White said her daughter had a “pill habit” for a long time, and had been stealing from her and other family members.
“She threatened me that day … I tried to help her, that’s all I did … I showed her how bad I messed my arm up,” White said.
“I love her and I don’t know what I’d do without her,” White said.
