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Alexandra Laird

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A young Pleasant Grove mother and heroin addict who has been at the center of debate over the care and punishment of pregnant addicts is in trouble again after authorities say she left treatment and then smuggled drugs to other patients at UAB Hospital.

One of the recipients of those drugs, authorities said, overdosed but survived. A Jefferson County judge has now revoked 22-year-old Alexandra Laird's bond on a previous chemical endangerment of a child charge, court records show, but she remains at large.

Laird was indicted in 2016 after her newborn baby girl was born addicted to heroin in 2015. Pregnant for a second time, Laird was arrested again last year after authorities say she admitted to using heroin three times a day during the most recent pregnancy. That baby was born in January of this year, and Laird was indicted again last month in connection with that case.

The criminal justice system and UAB physicians have been in a standoff over the best treatment for Laird. Last year, a Jefferson County Judge ordered her held in jail until her baby was born but UAB Hospital decided to keep her in the hospital for the duration of her pregnancy rather than send her back to jail.

Addiction experts argued that Laird couldn't get the care that she and the then-unborn child needed, and said that few, if any, pregnant addicts left rehabilitation once they were admitted and received treatment. Dr. Peter Lane, medical director of the Addiction Recovery Program at UAB, at that time outlined his post-partum plan for Laird. He said she would be detoxified from the Subutex, and once that process is complete, she will move to the Fellowship House and continue in the Partial Hospitalization Program at Addiction Recovery Program for two additional weeks. Once she is discharged from the Addiction Recovery Program, the Fellowship House will become her primary treatment program and the provider for her care and substance abuse issue.

Court and law enforcement officials, however, doubted Laird's ability to stay off drugs and feared the unborn baby was endangered. "I'm doing my damndest to try to prevent any further damage to this child, since it's obvious the mother doesn't seem to care,'' Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said in 2016.

A Jefferson County grand jury on April 15, 2016 indicted Laird on the first chemical endangerment of a child charge. She was initially arrested May 1, 2015 and had remained free on bond since then. Laird on March 29, 2015 gave birth to a baby girl at UAB Medical West, court records show. Routine newborn testing performed on the day the baby was born turned up positive for opiates and amphetamines, both controlled substances. The baby on April 6, 2015 was transferred to Princeton Baptist Medical Center where she received treatment for the withdrawals and spent one month in the Intensive Care Unit.

In that case, Reid said, Laird later admitted to detectives that she used heroin one to two times a week for at least five months of her pregnancy. Because of the severity of the baby's illness, Reid sought, and received, an enhanced charge of chemical endangerment of a child against Laird, which is a Class B felony. Laird does not have custody of her daughter.

In late August 2016, Laird was arrested again for failure to appear in court. A condition of her previous child endangerment charge required her to not commit any other crimes while out on bond, which Pleasant Grove police Reid said she did when she failed to show up for a court hearing. She then went before a judge who revoked her bond and administered a court-ordered drug test, which was positive.

She was remanded to jail in the Bessemer Cutoff on Sept. 8. It was then she admitted to using heroin three times a day, Reid said, and admitted to being pregnant which authorities confirmed with a pregnancy test. Reid went before Jefferson County Circuit Judge David Hobdy and argued for no bond, claiming that the unborn baby's life is in danger of continued heroin exposure.

Jefferson County Judge David Hobdy agreed with prosecutors and police and ordered her held, but Laird's doctors at UAB Hospital decided to keep her in the hospital for the duration of her pregnancy rather than send her back to jail.

Court records show Laird's bond was reinstated on March 13. According to authorities, Laird left the Fellowship House treatment center sometime in April. She was admitted back to UAB Hospital for undisclosed reasons, and brought drugs into the hospital which she gave to other patients. The type of drugs and the number of patients who received them wasn't released, however authorities say one of those patients overdosed but survived.

Laird had been doing well in rehabilitation, authorities say, and her Facebook posts indicate she was working at a fast-food restaurant.

Circuit Judge David Carpenter, the presiding criminal judge in the Bessemer Cutoff, revoked Laird's bond on April 28, 2017 and issued an alias writ for her. "The defendant is to be held on no bond until further order from the court,'' Carpenter wrote. Laird's status in court records was changed to "fugitive."

Laird's oldest child is living with her father and doing well. It wasn't clear who has custody of the baby born in January.

It's also not clear whether Laird is facing any additional criminal charges in connection with the UAB Hospital incident. Efforts to reach her attorney, Thomas Huseman, weren't immediately successful. A UAB spokesman said federal privacy laws prevent officials there from discussing a patient's care.

Asked for comment Tuesday on the latest development, Reid said, "Law enforcement is often seen as just the bad guy that doesn't understand heroin addiction. Unfortunately, we understand it all too well as we are the ones on the front lines with this epidemic every day trying to clean up the wake of destruction it leaves,'' he said. "Alex Laird has twice harmed children by repeatedly taking that poison while pregnant. We fought to protect the unborn, but hospitals fought the criminal justice system holding her out of jail, basically saying they know better."

"Advocates argued that treatment was all she needed and jail is the complete wrong thing for her, so she got months and years of treatment,'' Reid said. "Well, Laird has played them and the system for years. Unfortunately there are a lot of Lairds out there."