Mother held on $100,000 bond in drug case

Ponca City Police filed an affidavit Monday in connection with a probable cause warrant for the arrest of Ashley Dawn Peterson.

Peterson is being  held in the Kay County Detention Center in lieu of a $100,000 bond on the probable cause warrant for possession of methamphetamine and child endangerment, after her 11-month-old daughter ingested drugs at a motel room in the 1400 block of East Bradley Avenue.

In the affidavit, a Ponca City Police officer wrote that Peterson said her baby was crawling on the floor while she took a shower and no one else was in the room at the time. Peterson stated that she tried to lay her child down about 10 p.m. and noticed the baby acting strangly. She said her daughter’s eyes were dilated and she realized the baby probably ate some drugs from the floor.

At that point, Peterson said, she crawled on the floor where the baby had been crawling and “found a rock of ice” under the mini fridge. She said she took the drugs downstairs to show the clerk and asked to speak to the motel manager, who was not available.

Peterson said she  then called a relative to ask what to do, and then called  the police.

The officer then wrote that he looked at the child, who appeared fixated on a blanket. He said the baby’s eyes were not dilated, but rather were constricted about pinpoint size and would not dilate when light was removed. He said Ponca City EMTs transported the baby to Alliance Health Hospital.

In his investigation, the officer said, he found a large crystal-like rock of what appeared to be methamphetamine on the bathroom sink, a few feet away from the mini fridge. He said he used a test kit which yielded a positive result for methamphetamine. He also reported he saw three crystal-like shavings which looked similar to the larger rock near the mini fridge.

The officer said he interviewed Peterson again, who said her boyfriend, Dakota Dorl, was in the room when she called police but “left, because he is on parole and cannot have contact with law enforcement officers.”

Peterson was arrested and taken to the Ponca City jail by another officer, then the first investigating officer went to the hospital to follow up on the baby. Shortly after 1 a.m., the officer reported, the hospital staff did a urinalysis on the baby, which resulted in a positive test for amphetamines and methamphetamines.

At that point, the Department of Human Services was contacted and a judge gave a verbal order for DHS to take custody of the child.

Peterson is scheduled for an initial court appearance at 9 a.m. June 23 in Kay County District Court.