Mother of children who tested positive for cocaine gets change of judge

The Cape Girardeau woman whose three children, including her infant daughter, reportedly tested positive for cocaine last week was granted a change of judge Monday.

Brooke Whitener, 31, was arrested on New Year's Day when hospital personnel said her 18-month-old daughter tested positive for cocaine after being rushed to Southeast Hospital with seizures and a high fever, according Cape Girardeau police spokesman Darin Hickey.

On Monday, Whitener's attorney, Malcolm Montgomery, filed for and received a change of judge, according to online court records. Cape Girardeau County Judge Gary Kamp originally had the case before the motion was granted. Circuit Court Judge Michael Bullerdieck will preside over the case.

Montgomery did not return a message left at his office Tuesday.

When Whitener's daughter reportedly tested positive for cocaine, a nurse at the hospital called police and the Division of Family Services.

Whitener told police she believed her daughter found and ingested cocaine while playing outside with Whitener's two older daughters Saturday afternoon. Whitener told police she had a New Year's Eve celebration at her home that night where she and other adults consumed alcoholic beverages and nothing else, according to the probable-cause statement written by Cape Girardeau Patrolman Matthew Cotner.

Asked if she knew of any drug activity at her party, Whitener grew upset and vehemently denied any claims of drugs in her home, the statement said.

"No, I would not let drugs just lay around in my house in a candy dish or something," Whitener told police, according to the probable-cause statement.

Whitener confessed to some illicit drug use at a club three months ago but told investigators she was unsure what drugs she had used.

Whitener refused a drug test request from a Division of Family Services agent, as well as a police request to search her home, the statement said.

Candy Mosely, Whitener's mother, told investigators she knew her daughter had used drugs in the past. Mosely also said Whitener had friends who used drugs, according to the probable-cause statement.

Whitener's two older daughters, ages 12 and 14, told investigators that they had seen one of Whitener's friends smoking what they believed to be marijuana from a "brown cigarette," the statement said.

Whitener's two older daughters tested positive for cocaine after a urine test conducted by the Division of Protective Services, Hickey said.

All three children were taken into protective custody, and Whitener was charged with three counts of child endangerment. She faces seven years in prison for each charge.

The Southeast Missourian could not find a listed telephone number for Whitener.

Sunday's arrest and its subsequent charges are not the first time Whitener has been in trouble. According to online records, she was sentenced to 10 days in jail for resisting arrest after a 2009 guilty plea.

Whitener will be arraigned Feb. 1.

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