Mother, Newborn Addicted : Suspected Heroin Found on Maternity Ward Visitor

A man who police think was smuggling heroin into a Burbank hospital’s maternity ward, where his girlfriend had given birth to a drug-addicted baby, was arrested when officers found in his sock a syringe and what they suspect was the drug, authorities said.

Brett M. Oden, 29, of Newhall was arrested on suspicion of drug possession Thursday at St. Joseph Medical Center, Sgt. Don Goldberg said.

Goldberg said police went to the hospital maternity ward after being tipped that Oden, who was wanted on a trespassing warrant, would be there visiting his 20-year-old girlfriend from Lincoln Heights. Her identity was not released.

When police arrested Oden at the maternity ward and searched him before taking him to jail, they found in his left sock a syringe filled with a substance believed to be heroin, Goldberg said.

An investigation determined that Oden’s girlfriend had checked into the maternity ward the previous day and that her blood had tested positive for opiates and cocaine. Thursday morning, the woman gave birth to a girl whose blood also tested positive for the same drugs.

Infant Addicted

“The baby was born going through withdrawal,” said Goldberg.

The infant was taken into protective custody by county juvenile authorities and was being cared for at the hospital, Goldberg said. The woman’s other child, a 3-year-old boy, is being raised by his grandmother in Burbank and was not removed from that home.

Goldberg said an investigation is continuing, and the mother could face arrest for child endangerment. He added that the baby’s father is in a state prison. Oden was being held in the Burbank jail on $12,500 bail.