A mother in Oklahoma was charged with child abandonment after police said she gave her child to her drug dealer last year.
Ashley Rowland, 39, has been accused of handing her two-year-old daughter, who would be five today, over to a man named “Carlos” who she told police could be the father of the child.
She was buying drugs from him when she handed the child over, she told police, according to an affidavit obtained by TV station KOCO.
Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services tried to take custody of the child in April 2023 but she could not be located, the document stated. At the time, the woman told officials her daughter “was with her father in Georgia.”
The girl has not been seen since then and an Amber alert was never issued for her. Rowland told police she was using drugs when she allegedly gave her daughter away and did not know where the girl was.
Rowland, who lives in Moore, Oklahoma, was arrested by officers with the Moore Police Department after the affidavit was filed on November 1.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Rowland had legal counsel.
Rowland was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a $3,000 bond and was reportedly released before a judge in the case could raise it to $100,000.
In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, said: “Situations like those described in this affidavit are heartbreaking and unimaginable. Like the rest of the community, Oklahoma Human Services reels in concern for this child’s safety.
“While we are unable to discuss child welfare cases due to state and federal confidentiality statutes, the agency is grateful to our law enforcement partners for their continued work to find her and as they seek justice in her disappearance. We remain committed to supporting their efforts, however needed.”
