Published: October 10, 2008 10:31 pm            

Police: Son steals drugs from mom

A mother who reported her prescription medication missing was the alleged victim of her own son.

Lonnie Hayfield Jr. of Merrick Drive was charged with theft of a controlled substance, a class D felony, after officers allege that he confessed to stealing over 100 prescription pills from his mother, Teresa White.

White first notified police on Oct. 5 that a large amount of her medication was missing from her prescription bottles at her residence on Hager Drive, said Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Moore.

“White stated that she kept her medication in a secure lock box in her bedroom and the only way to open the box was with a key that she kept hidden away from the lock box,” Moore said.

It was determined at the scene that 81 Xanax tablets, a prescription tranquilizer, and 32 Lortab tablets, a prescription painkiller, were taken from the medication bottles belonging to White.

“White stated that the only person that had visited her residence on that date was her son, Lonnie Hatfield Jr.,” Moore said.

On the same day the Sheriff’s department was taking White’s theft complaint, the Richmond City Police responded to a domestic disturbance call at 1009 Merrick Drive.

The two parties involved in the disturbance were Lonnie Hatfield Jr. and his wife, Leslie Hatfield.

At the scene, officers discovered two types of a “powdered substance” on the kitchen counter of the residence.

“These substances were suspected to be Lortab and Xanax,” Moore said.

Lonnie Hatfield, who had an active warrant out for non-payment of fines, advised police “of his overuse of Lortab and Xanax,” Moore said.

After being booked by RPD officers into the Madison County Detention Center, Hatfield was interviewed by Moore, who was still in the process of working the theft case.

“After being made known of this set of circumstances, I went to interview Mr. Hatfield about the medication that was taken from his mother’s residence,” Moore said. “Hatfield gave me a confession statement claiming he was the one that had taken the medication from his mother’s prescription bottles.”

The next day, another warrant was issued for Hatfield’s arrest on the drug charges.

He is currently lodged in the Madison County Detention Center in lieu of a $1,500 cash bond.



Heather Harris can be reached at hharris@richmondregister.com or by phone at 624-6694 or 893-2341.

        

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