SPANAWAY, Wash. -- A Washington mother faces multiple counts after allegedly injecting heroin into her three children, calling it "sleep juice" and "feel good medicine."
Ashlee Hutt, 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree child assault, child endangerment and delivery of a controlled substance to a person under 18. Her husband, 25-year-old Leroy McIver, also pleaded not guilty to the same charges in September.
During the arraignment Monday, chilling details from the affidavit emerged, KIRO reports.
“Some of the statements (the children) made were very disturbing about how they would get sleeping juice to go sleep,” said Ed Troyer, spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.
The 6-year-old son said "his mom and dad (gave) him and his sisters the 'feel good medicine,'" which he described as a white powder mixed with water. The boy said his parents "used a needle to inject the 'feel good medicine' into him and his sisters" before bedtime, according to the document.
Child Protective Services launched an investigation in 2015 after getting a call from a witness who allegedly watched Hutt injecting her children -- ages 2, 4, and 6 -- with heroin.
CPS investigators also said they found discarded needles and rat feces in the home during their investigation, which lasted from May to November, 2015.
Tests revealed trace amounts of heroin in the blood of two of the children, but not the third. Investigators reported that the children had bruises and marks on their bodies that were consistent with needle injections.
As soon as the investigation concluded, CPS placed all three children in foster care.
