A Saraland woman was arrested this week after her newborn tested positive for cocaine at birth, according to Mobile County District Court records.
Tilisha Lakelia Tate, 34, was taken into custody and booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail on charges of chemical endangerment of a child and possession of drug paraphernalia, roughly two weeks after giving birth at a Mobile hospital. According to an incident report filed by the Mobile Police Department, both Tate and her infant tested positive for cocaine shortly after the birth on Aug. 13.
Tate was scheduled to appear before a Mobile County District Court judge for a bond hearing in the days following her arrest. Court records show this is not Tate’s first encounter with drug-related charges. She faced a cocaine possession charge in 2012 and pleaded guilty to a lesser paraphernalia charge in early 2013. Records also show she was among more than 30 people arrested during a citywide prostitution sweep in Mobile in January 2013.
Chemical endangerment of a child is a felony under Alabama law that applies when a child is exposed to a controlled substance, and prosecutors have used the statute in cases involving infants born with drugs in their systems. Alabama courts have upheld its application even in cases where exposure occurs during pregnancy.
Cases involving newborns testing positive for illegal substances are typically handled by local hospitals and law enforcement under mandatory reporting protocols designed to connect affected families with medical and social services, in addition to any criminal proceedings. It was not immediately clear whether child welfare officials had become involved in the case beyond the criminal charges filed against Tate.
The Mobile Police Department did not release additional details about the circumstances of the arrest or the infant’s current condition. Chemical endangerment cases involving newborns have periodically been prosecuted in Mobile County in recent years as part of broader efforts by local authorities to address prenatal drug exposure. The case against Tate remains pending in Mobile County court.