Tampa Mother Charged After 2-Month-Old Dies Of Cocaine Exposure

TAMPA, FL -- A 34-year-old Tampa woman has been arrested after the medical examiner determined that her 2-month-old son died from exposure to cocaine.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, on April 24 at 2:24 a.m., deputies were called to a home in the 9700 block of Long Meadow Drive off Linebaugh Avenue in Tampa after receiving a call about an unresponsive infant.

The 2-month-old, Brennen Rand, was taken to Tampa General Hospital where he died.

During a search of the home, deputies found drug paraphernalia near the infant's crib. But it wasn't until they received the medical examiner's report this week that they had probable cause to arrest the child's mother, Megan Michelle Rand.

The medical examiner determined that the infant died from "diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage with hypothermia due to cocaine exposure."

Rand was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and booked into the Orient Road Jail on Wednesday, Oct. 17 where she remains on a $100,000 bond. Rand has previous arrests for possession of cocaine and leaving the scene of a crash.

Image via Hillsborough Sheriff

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