Port Royal mother charged after she and newborn test positive for drugs, report says

A Port Royal mother was arrested after hospital records showed she and her baby tested positive for drugs, a Port Royal Police Department report released Tuesday says.

Rochelle Noami Watkins, 23, of Port Royal, was arrested Feb. 4 and charged with felony unlawful conduct toward a child. She was released Feb. 5 from Beaufort County Detention Center on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond set by Judge Ralph Tupper, Beaufort County jail and court records show.

The charge carries a fine or imprisonment of up to 10 years, per state code.

The infant is in the care of a relative, whom she will live with until the case goes before family court, the report says.

The S.C. Department of Health and Human services first contacted the Port Royal Police Department on Jan. 8 in reference to “abuse and neglect of a child,” the report says.

A social worker told officers that Watkins had tested positive for marijuana and ecstasy on Dec. 26, the day the baby was born at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. The baby tested positive for marijuana, the report said.

Watkins told police she had smoked marijuana before giving birth, the report says, but the details of when varied — from a month prior to giving birth to before the hospital.

Watkins did not acknowledge taking ecstasy in the report. She told officers that doctors at the hospital gave it to her.

This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 6:41 PM.