An observant driver called Texarkana, Texas police in October to report seeing a woman holding a drug pipe while driving with a small child in her back seat.
The alert driver followed the maroon Saturn alleged being steered by Miranda Steitler, mid-afternoon Oct. 17 until it stopped in front of a house on Oakhill Drive. The caller reported seeing a woman holding a “purple pipe” with a small child “running around in the back seat,” a probable cause affidavit alleges.
When officers asked Steitler, 34, about the pipe, she stated, “I didn’t hit it.” Steitler was permitted to leave her 4-year-old son with a friend who lived in a nearby home.
Steitler had reportedly given officers permission to search when they noticed she was trying to hide something behind her back. After cuffing her, the officers noticed a bulge in the rear of Steitler’s pants.
After being confronted about her bulging pants, one of Steitler’s hands was uncuffed so she could remove what she was attempting to conceal. Steitler allegedly pulled out a blue glass pipe with a bulb on one end which contained a white crystal substance the officers suspected was methamphetamine.
Steitler was indicted by a Bowie County grand jury Monday for possession of methamphetamine and child endangerment. Both offenses are state jail felonies. If convicted, Steitler faces six months to two years in a state jail.
