Plum police say 4-year-old told them mother had him hide her 'medicine,' heroin, during traffic stop

Police say an East McKeesport woman told her 4-year-old son to hide heroin, which he called mommy’s “medicine,” when Plum police pulled her over for suspicion of driving under the influence.

Christine Lynn Kregiel, 33, faces nearly a dozen charges stemming from the traffic stop about 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Renton Road.

In a criminal complaint, police said officers responded to Maple Street for a report of an intoxicated woman seen stumbling out of her vehicle and then getting back in with a toddler and driving away toward Apple Avenue.

An officer said he saw the vehicle on Apple Avenue heading toward Renton Road. Police said it was seen running stop signs, stopping and blocking Plum Street, and driving onto the double yellow line twice before being stopped on Renton Road.

Police identified the driver as Kregiel, who was crying and said she was trying to go to a friend’s house, the complaint said. Police said her speech was slurred and her clothes were disheveled. The boy was in the back in a child seat but unrestrained, police said.

After failing a series of field sobriety tests, Kregiel was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence, the complaint said. Police said she refused to provide a blood sample.

While Kregiel was taken to the Plum police department, other officers stayed with the child, police said.

According to the complaint, while they were waiting for the boy to be picked up, he told officers “that mommy had him hide her medicine.”

Police said the boy handed over a small coin purse containing 12 stamp bags of suspected heroin, half of which were empty. It also contained a rolled-up dollar bill with a white powdery residue of suspected heroin, the complaint said.

Plum police charged Kregiel with a felony count of endangering the welfare of children. She also is charged with the misdemeanor offense of obstructing the administration of law or other government function by allegedly having her son hide the suspected heroin.

She also faces two misdemeanor counts of prohibited acts, a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and four traffic offenses, including two stop sign violations, careless driving and restraint systems for failing to secure her son in the child seat.

Kregiel was arraigned Tuesday and released without bail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 5.