Holly MatkinMorgan County, AL – A 20-year-old Alabama woman was arrested for homicide on Wednesday after she allegedly used methamphetamine throughout her pregnancy and delivered a stillborn baby.
Faith Victoria Kemp was already sitting in the Morgan County Jail on various other charges when the sheriff’s office served her with a warrant for chemical endangerment of a child with homicide on June 29, WAFF reported.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a press release that it received a report from the Morgan County Department of Human Resources that Kemp had delivered a stillborn baby at Madison Hospital on May 16 during her 38th week of pregnancy.
Three days later, Kemp was arrested for an outstanding controlled substance bond revocation, which stemmed from a prior drug conviction, WAFF reported.
The Alabama Department of Forensics performed an autopsy on Kemp’s stillborn child.
Investigators ultimately determined that Kemp had used methamphetamine throughout her pregnancy.
She is being held on $200,000 bond for the homicide charge and faces 10 to 99 years in prison if she is convicted, according to WHNT.
MCSO Public Information Officer Mike Swafford said cases like Kemp’s have become more and more commonplace, WAFF reported.
“We have seen a spike in drug use, a spike in fentanyl, a spike in meth,” Swafford said. “We are seeing spikes across the board. So that would lend itself to pregnant people and child endangerment.”
“Drug addiction has a lot of downfalls. This falls into that category,” he continued. “In addition to ruining someone’s own life, it ruins a family, community, a neighborhood. When somebody becomes pregnant, if they are not able to handle that addiction, it can lead to the death of a baby.”
