Pennsylvania

Montgomery County Mom Gives Teen Daughter Heroin Takes Her on Buys: District Attorney

Prosecutors allege the suburban Philadelphia mother also would inject her child & another minor with the drug

A Montgomery County mother allegedly introduced her 15-year-old daughter and the girl's teenage boyfriend to heroin and would take the couple -- and sometimes an 8-year-old child -- on trips into Philadelphia to buy the drug.

Lower Salford Township Police arrested Patricia Davenport and Megan Rudolph Tuesday on charges that they supplied drugs to minors.

Details released by District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman Wednesday afternoon focus primarily on allegations against Davenport and allegations that Davenport introduced her child to what Ferman called “the devil’s poison.”

“I can’t fathom these allegations,” said Ferman. “It’s incomprehensible to me that any parent would introduce their children, their child, to drugs like this. And not just introduce them, but then perpetuate that addiction and obtain (the drugs) and inject them on multiple occasions.”

Ferman said that the drug investigation began on the first day of school at Souderton High School when a report came in that a 15-year-old girl was using drugs supplied by her mother. About a week later, a girl told a school guidance counselor that she saw the same juvenile using heroin with Davenport.

The school nurse then found needle marks on the teenage tipster's arm, according to investigators.

Lower Salford Police began to uncover more details. They found that Davenport and Rudolph began using heroin together inside Davenport's Harleysville, Pennsylvania home back in April. On one occasion, police said that Davenport, 35, offered and snorted heroin with her teen daughter.

After that, Davenport and Rudolph, 26, began taking the girl, her 16-year-old boyfriend, and sometimes Davenport's 8-year-old son, on drug-buying trips into Philadelphia, said investigators.

The women and teens would then allegedly use the drugs while driving back home to Montgomery County, according to investigators. The women would use syringes to inject themselves and the girls.

Ferman said that even though the group would sometimes bring Davenport's 8-year-old along, they never gave the boy any heroin. The buys would happen multiple times a week.

"Mom was supplying the funds not only for herself, and others, but for her daughter," said Lower Salford Police Chief Thomas Medwid.

Both women face 11 counts in total including corruption of minors, child endangerment, reckless endangerment and drug counts, according to court documents.

Davenport, 35, remained behind bars Wednesday unable to post $50,000 bail, according to court records.

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