GENEVA —
A Madison teenager caught with her father’s prescription painkillers last week now faces misdemeanor and felony charges, Geneva police reports show, after officers found 86 pills, a hypodermic needle and a bottle of cough syrup in her car.
The 17-year-old girl and a friend were in her car in an Austin Road parking lot when Officer Doug Zetlaw approached the vehicle on foot.
The teen told Zetlaw she had just dropped off a friend, but Zetlaw was suspicious, police reports show.
“I talked to her in an attempt to get more specifics as to what she and her friend were actually up to,” he said. “During that time, I noticed she had distinct track marks on her arms, consistent with those commonly found on drug addicts.”
Zetlaw said he asked the girl if she had anything illegal in the car. The girl seemed “very unsure,” so he began a search of the car’s interior after his canine officer, Zip, alerted to the presence of drugs.
In the glove compartment, Zetlaw found oxycodone, hydrocodone, propoxyphene and belladonna alkaloid pills, as well as a bottle of cough syrup.
The prescription pills were in a bottle with the girl’s father’s name on it.
In a small purse inside the vehicle, Zetlaw discovered two alprazolam pills in a small plastic “dime bag.”
“There was also a small piece of cotton commonly used to stop bleeding after narcotics are injected with a needle,” he said.
Zetlaw’s evidence list also includes a used hypodermic needle, a plastic bag with methamphetamine powder residue and a straight shaft pipe, burnt on one end.
“This is commonly used to smoke methamphetamine,” he said.
Zetlaw said the girl admitted to using drugs earlier that day and said she stole the pills from her father.
She was recently released from drug rehabilitation, her father told officers.
She also has felony charges pending in Lake County, reports show. She now faces a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor charges of curfew, possession of drug abuse instruments, three counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, reports show.
The girl was released to the custody of her father, Zetlaw said.
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