HOLLAND TWP., Mich. (WWJ) - A Holland woman behind the wheel of an SUV that rolled over into a frozen pond in February— which led to the deaths of her three young boys — was found to have methadone in her system, court documents showed.
As reported by Mlive, authorities in Ottawa County arraigned Leticia Gonzales, 30, on Wednesday on charges of operating while intoxicated causing death after police alleged the mother of three was under the influence of drugs at the time of the fatal crash five months prior.
Police claim Gonzales took two doses of methadone -- a drug commonly used for pain relief and as a treatment for drug addiction -- the morning of the Feb. 17 and was driving her SUV when she hit a curb and rolled over into an ice-covered pond on James Street near 112th Avenue.
The SUV landed in about 3 to 4 feet of water, with her three boys – Jerome III, 4, Jeremiah, 3, and Josiah, 1 - trapped inside.
The sheriff's office said Gonzales was able to escape on her own and sustained unspecified injuries, but her children were stuck upside down in their car seats.
While authorities were able to rescue the children, he 3- and 4-year-old boys were pronounced dead at a hospital, while the 1-year-old was pronounced dead hours later.
Gonzales admitted to a deputy that she had taken methadone around 6:30 a.m. the day of the crash, according to police testimony. She also said she took the drug regularly.
According to testimony outline in court documents, detectives said they interviewed a person close to Gonzales who claimed the mother was receiving daily doses of methadone from a clinic.
The interviewee told police they allegedly got a text from Gonzales around 7 a.m. where she asked to "borrow a dose from you," authorities said via Mlive. The mother then when to that person's house and picked up the drug sometime before the crash.
"After obtaining the methadone, Gonzales told the witness she was headed back home to the Holland area," the detective testified.
Gonzales was taken by sheriff's detectives to Zeeland Community Hospital after the incident.
It was there deputies noticed Gonzales' pupils were "notably constricted, her eyelids were droopy and that she displayed no response to direct lighting."
When officials asked Gonzales about drug use, she initially denied being on medications that could cause impairment, but deputies testified that she later admitted to taking a dose of methadone prescribed from a clinic.
Authorities identified the clinic as a licensed facility that uses methadone as part of their treatment program, detectives said.
"The (detective) advised that in his opinion as a drug recognition expert, Leticia Gonzales was under the influence of a narcotic analgesic and unable to operate a motor vehicle safely," according to testimony attainted by Mlive.
A blood sample taken from Gonzales determined she had methadone in her system, officials said, but the test could not tell for sure the amount.
The person that Gonzales allegedly got the second dose of methadone from told investigators that previously "Gonzales had come to him/her before while being dopesick and asked about methadone the witness had access to," the detective testified.
Charges relating to the incident were delayed five months after Ottawa County Prosecutor Lee Fisher Gonzales said his office had been waiting on the toxicology report and on witness interviews, Mlive reported.
Witnesses were hard to track down and some needed to have follow-up interviews, the prosecutor added.
Gonzales was granted a $250,000 surety bond during her arraignment on July 20. As of Wednesday evening, she had not posted bond and remains in the Ottawa County Jail.
