CLEARFIELD – A Hyde woman, who appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance while at a local restaurant with her child, pleaded guilty to felony charges Tuesday.
Jessica Lynn Bowman, 39, was sentenced by Judge Paul E. Cherry to serve six months to one year in the county jail with three years concurrent probation for felony endangering the welfare of a child, along with misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine).
She was ordered to complete drug and alcohol counseling as well as a nurturing program. She is not permitted to have contact with the victim other than what is permitted by Clearfield County Children, Youth and Family Services.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a caller reported to police on June 4 that Bowman was “nodding off” as she tried to feed a child in a stroller at the business. While they were responding to the scene, county control received a second call from the manager saying she was standing too close to the freezers and was falling asleep while standing with the child.
When they arrived, Bowman was leaving the restaurant. An officer noted in his report that her eyes were glassy and blood shot. She had slurred speech and her movements were slow and lethargic, he said.
As she was questioned, she stated that she was “just exhausted from life.” She claimed she had only taken her prescription suboxone.
During their conversation, she “continued talking about events that did not pertain to officers making contact with her.” She was struggling to keep her eyes open, police said.
When she was asked if she had any illegal items with her, or in the cart with the child, she “got nervous and was trying to deflect the conversation to her hotel room.” She said she wasn’t sure what was in her bag as it belonged to a friend.
But when she was asked if she would put anything illegal in the stroller with her child, she responded that she would know if there was anything in it since she had just cleaned it.
She reportedly agreed to a search of her person during which officers found a plastic bag with a brown substance suspected to be heroin that had the letter “H” on it.
As she was advised of her rights, she continued to have problems standing and keeping her eyes open. CYS was contacted to take custody of the child as she was handcuffed and placed in the patrol car.
One of the officers watched the surveillance video of Bowman in the business earlier. He was able to see her swaying and leaning over as if she was under the influence. When CYS took custody of the child, it was wearing a soiled diaper and did not have any pants, socks or shoes.
In a search of the stroller, police reportedly discovered multiple broken glass pipes with burnt residue, a black case with a glass pipe inside and a small crystal substance in a sweatshirt located on the right side of the child.
Inside a purple bag on the left side of the stroller, they found plastic bags with a white crystallized substance, two prescription bottles with mixed pills, a small bag of white round pills, and a plastic bag with multiple smaller bags with blue paper inside. One prescription bottle should have had 40 pills if taken as the directions on the bottle ordered, but there were only 19 in it, police noted.
The crystallized substances did test positive for the presence of methamphetamine, according to the report.
