Two Children Test Positive for Meth After Portland Mom Found Unresponsive at Home

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland woman, 23-year-old Chloe Alethia Barnes, was arraigned last Thursday on four counts of criminal mistreatment and two counts of child neglect after witnesses reported her 3-year-old child wandering the streets around 7 p.m. on July 23, in Southeast Portland.

Court documents indicate that Portland Police officers responded to reports of the child at the intersection of 162nd Avenue and Southeast Star early Thursday evening.

Officers spoke with witnesses who spotted the child, wearing only diapers, and directed police to a nearby second-story apartment.

Officers tried to make contact by loudly announcing their presence, but after receiving no response, spotted a woman, later identified as Barnes, slumped on the couch with her head back. Barnes woke up and allowed officers inside her apartment, where they found her other 2-year-old son asleep in a bedroom.

Police noticed the apartment had no power, and the refrigerator was wide open with food hanging out and spilled on the floor.

Police also found a torch lighter and a glass pipe near the couch where Barnes was sleeping. Barnes later told police both she and her boyfriend like to smoke meth, but insisted they only do so when the children are in another room.

Barnes could not indicate the last time her children had eaten. Both children tested positive for drug exposure to methamphetamine through urinalysis tests.

Barnes was arraigned on Thursday but released on recognizance the same day, as she has no prior criminal history. She is scheduled to be arraigned on an indictment on August 15.