BLOOMFIELD — A Dexter father appeared in court Thursday on child endangerment and abuse charges after his two young children recently tested positive for methamphetamine.
Raymond Edward Hoppe, 55, was formally arraigned by Associate Circuit Judge Joe Satterfield on two Class D felonies of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and two Class D felonies of abuse or neglect of a child.
Given the high level of methamphetamine the two children tested positive for, authorities say they believe each would have had to ingest the drug itself in some form.
Satterfield set Hoppe’s preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. Sept. 5.
On July 30, Hoppe is accused of acting in a “manner that created a substantial risk to the body and health” of his 3-year-old stepdaughter and 1-year-old daughter by “using methamphetamine in the presence” of the children, causing each to be “positive for methamphetamine upon testing.”
On the same date, Hoppe is accused of knowingly causing each child to “suffer physical injury as a result of abuse by using methamphetamine” in each’s presence, causing each to test positive for meth.
The charges against Hoppe stem from an investigation by the Dexter Police Department.
At about 10:55 p.m. July 30, Dexter police officers, along with Stoddard County Juvenile and Missouri Children’s Division officials, reportedly responded to a residence in the 400 block of Albert Street regarding a child abuse hotline report of possible drug abuse.
Contact, according to Officer D.J. Robinson’s probable-cause statement, was contacted, and his stepdaughter and daughter were present in the home.
A Stoddard County juvenile officer, along with the Children’s Division case worker removed both of the children from the home “due to Raymond testing positive for THC, methamphetamine and amphetamine,” Robinson wrote.
Suspected drug paraphernalia, Robinson said, also was found in Hoppe’s bedroom.
On Aug. 7, Robinson said, Children’s Division case worker Ashley Gray provided him with lab results from testing done on a hair follicle sample taken from each girl.
Robinson said both girls tested positive for methamphetamine.
Robinson said he subsequently contacted David Engelhart, who was laboratory director at the testing lab.
Given the high level of methamphetamine each child tested positive for, “he believes the children would have had to ingested the drug itself in some form of manner,” Robinson said.
Hoppe remains in the Stoddard County Jail on a $17,500 cash bond.