North Georgia couple accused of giving 4-year-old meth-laced Sprite

Ashley Lee Sexton (left), Joshua Lamar Teems

Ashley Lee Sexton (left), Joshua Lamar Teems

A couple are accused of giving a 4-year-old boy a drink with methamphetamine in it in Bartow County, authorities said.

Ashley Lee Sexton, 27, and Joshua Lamar Teems, 29, both of Kingston, were arrested Monday on criminal negligence charges, according to the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office.

The two are accused of keeping meth in the lid of a Sprite bottle two days before the incident and putting it in the refrigerator at Teems’ mother’s home, which is where they lived, according to a Floyd County police incident report.

Teems told officers he later poured a cup of Sprite for his nephew, which caused him to have erratic speech, the report said. The child’s mother then took the boy to Floyd Medical Center.

The boy’s mother told officers at the hospital that Teems and Sexton have a history of using meth, the report said.

The arrest warrants for Teems and Sexton said the drink caused mental and physical pain to the child. Police said the Division of Family and Children Services was made aware of the situation.

Sexton and Teems face felony charges of second-degree child cruelty, and Teems faces an additional charge of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, according to Floyd County Jail records. They both remained in jail without bond as of Monday night.

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