A woman already in the Sarasota County jail awaiting trial on child abuse allegations had her legal troubles compounded this week when detectives filed prescription fraud and drug trafficking charges against her.
In July, investigators arrested Sandra Michelle Freeman, 38, of the 200 block of Venice Palms Boulevard in Venice, on three aggravated child abuse charges.
Detectives reported that Freeman's adult son claimed his mother had repeatedly washed her 19-month-old son in bleach and chlorine and forced the toddler to walk through powdered pool chemicals.
The older son told investigators he attributed his mother's behavior to her abuse of the prescription drug Adderall.
In court, Sandra Freeman and her attorney told a judge that her 19-year-old son, Frederick Freeman, concocted the story.
After his mother's arrest, and before he returned to college in Michigan, Frederick Freeman lived with the family of the toddler's father. The father is involved in a bitter custody dispute with Sandra Freeman over the toddler.
Investigators pursued a tip from Fredrick Freeman that his mother had fraudulently obtained prescriptions for Adderall, an amphetamine medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Frederick Freeman claimed his mother took pills that had been prescribed for him and his sister. A drug test reportedly showed that he had no Adderall in his system.
The Florida Department of Children and Families reportedly asked Freeman if she had a prescription for Adderall when she tested positive for the drug four times earlier this year. The agency said Freeman produced false documentation and could not provide a valid prescription for Adderall.
Detectives say Sandra Freeman altered the dates on her children's prescriptions with a marker so the orders could be filled earlier than intended.
They also say Freeman stole blank prescription pads from one of two pediatricians to whom she took her daughter to get Adderall, and forged prescriptions she took to various pharmacies.
Detectives say they obtained video of Freeman paying for a fraudulent prescription at the Publix Pharmacy, 345 Jacaranda Blvd., and that a pharmacy technician there positively identified her from a photo.
As of Tuesday, Freeman had been denied bail on a charge of trafficking in amphetamine. Her bail on the other charges, including a count of driving with an expired license, is now $100,120
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