Two arrested for drugs, child endangerment

Bethany Lange, Herald Reporter
Posted 4/20/17

Wood, MacDonald scheduled for hearing Friday morning

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Two arrested for drugs, child endangerment

Posted

EVANSTON — Evanston residents Devin R. Wood and Ivy T. MacDonald have been charged with crimes related to drugs and child endangerment.

Devin R. Wood was arrested by the Evanston Police Department on April 10 and has been charged with two counts of endangering children by allowing them in a home where methamphetamine was ingested, one count of reckless endangering and one count of being under the influence of a Schedule I drug. 

Wood has a long rap sheet, including arrests for suspicion of child abuse, probation violations, public intoxication, preventing a phone call to police, strangulation of a household member, reckless endangerment, breaching the peace and disorderly conduct (according to Herald records dating back to March 2014). 

Ivy T. MacDonald, Wood’s significant other, was also arrested by the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office on April 12 for suspicion of child endangering and being under the influence of a controlled substance. 

The Utah Department of Family Services, Evanston Police Department and Wyoming Department of Family Services became involved in the case when Wood and MacDonald went to the Park City Medical Center emergency room in the early afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 26. Both MacDonald and Wood were admitted to the hospital and treated there for drug overdose, according to court documents. 

They brought their 4-year-old child with them, who was then taken into protective custody. When Evanston police did a welfare check on two other children left at Wood’s home, they were allegedly found in the care of a woman with a history of drug abuse. 

According to court documents, a special agent found in medical records that Wood had tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamines, synthetic opiates, heroin and benzodiazepines, and that MacDonald had tested positive for heroin, synthetic opiates, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamines and benzodiazepines.

Both Wood and MacDonald had been issued prescription drugs as well, according to subpoenaed records from the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy.

At the time of the incident, Wood was on probation for felony child abuse from an October 2016 charge.

Court documents state that child protective services were contacted because Wood and MacDonald drove to the Park City medical center with a 4-year-old while they were under the influence of drugs.

Wood allegedly contradicted himself in statements about the weekend’s events in regards to location (Wood and MacDonald no longer live together but share custody of their 4-year-old child), among other things. However, Wood’s first story allegedly matched with the stories of others reportedly involved in the weekend’s drug use. 

Interviews with others involved in the case indicated that MacDonald, Wood and four others had been using drugs together in Wood’s bedroom that weekend. Two of Wood’s and MacDonald’s children, aged 4 and 10, were in the home during the alleged drug use, as was another 11-year-old child. 

When law enforcement spoke to Wood’s suspected drug distributors (one of whom has been under a drug distribution investigation), they allegedly found call logs and video surveillance linking Wood to the drug providers, as well as suspected drugs in the home. One of the suspected drug dealers also allegedly told law enforcement that Wood was her best customer, estimating he usually spent at least $300 on heroin daily. 

The weekend MacDonald overdosed and was taken to the Park City hospital, she told Wood she did not want to be taken to the local hospital because she has a nursing license and did not want her illegal drug use to be found out by people she knew, according to court documents.

MacDonald posted bond for herself and Wood (her bail was set at $5,000 and his at $10,000) before their preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. today.