Girlfriend Had Given Birth to Addicted Baby : Man Accused of Sneaking Heroin Into Hospital

A Newhall man was caught smuggling heroin into a Burbank hospital’s maternity ward where his girlfriend had given birth to a drug-addicted baby, authorities said Friday.

Brett M. Oden, 29, was arrested on suspicion of drug possession Thursday when officers found the drug and a syringe in his sock at St. Joseph Medical Center, Burbank Police Sgt. Don Goldberg said.

The baby girl, who “was born going through withdrawal,” was placed in protective custody by county juvenile authorities and was being cared for at the hospital, Goldberg said.

Goldberg said police went to the maternity ward after being tipped that Oden, who was wanted on a trespassing warrant, would be visiting his 20-year-old girlfriend from Lincoln Heights. Her identity was not disclosed.

When police arrested Oden at the maternity ward and searched him before taking him to jail, they found the syringe filled with a susbstance believed to be heroin in his left sock, Goldberg said.

An investigation determined that Oden’s girlfriend had checked into the maternity ward the previous day and her blood tested positive for opiates and cocaine. On Thursday morning, she gave birth to a girl whose blood also tested positive for those drugs.

The woman’s other child, a 3-year-old boy, is being raised by his grandmother in Burbank and was not removed from that home.

Goldberg said an investigation is continuing and the mother could face charges of child endangerment.

Police said Oden, who was being held in the Burbank jail in lieu of $12,500 bail, is not the baby’s father. The father, who was not identified, is in state prison, Goldberg said.