Mother of 18-month old who tested positive for cocaine pleads guilty

The Cape Girardeau mother whose 18-month-old daughter tested positive for cocaine Jan. 1 has pleaded guilty, although only to one lesser count of second-degree child endangerment, prosecutors said.

Brooke Whitener, 31, was sentenced to two years of probation March 6, said Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney Frank Miller. She was originally charged with three counts of felony child endangerment and faced up to seven years in prison for each count.

Initial drug screenings of all three of her children showed cocaine in their systems, Miller said. A second test of all three hours later showed that the two older children had been false positives, he said. But on the infant, Miller said, it was a "definite positive" in a subsequent test.

Two of the felony counts were dropped and the third was reduced to a misdemeanor, Miller said, because the case did not meet the element of "knowingly" attempting to harm the child.

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100 Court St., Jackson, MO