Heroin's not good for anyone -- especially an 11-month-old baby, like the one found in a Scottsdale hotel room that her mother baked out with heroin smoke yesterday afternoon.
According to court records obtained by New Times, 25-year-old Matthew Nakihei and his baby-mama, Stefanie Bindes, 34, were arrested yesterday after police were called the La Quinta Inn and Suites at 8888 East Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale, where the couple has been staying for the past few days.
About 2 p.m., a housekeeper at the hotel watched through the couple's slightly open door as Bindes smoked heroin in close proximity to the baby, who was playing in a crib in the hotel room at the time.
Additionally, another hotel patron smelled a strong odor coming from the couple's room.
When police arrived, they went to the couples room and were immediately hit with the stench of heroin smoke when Bindes opened the door. They also immediately noticed the baby in the tiny room.
According to the arresting officer, the room -- which he describes as
being "approximately 300 square feet with very poor ventilation" -- was
filled with heroin smoke.
Inside the hotel room, police found a small baggie of heroin on the bed,
multiple pieces of tin-foil with burnt heroin residue on them, a box of
syringes, two "loaded" syringes, and another pea-sized ball of heroin
on top of a box of baby wipes. An Excedrin bottle containing Xanax and
Ambien -- a powerful sleep medication -- was also found in the room.
To top it all off, inside the crib with the baby, police found a bottle of prescription pills.
Once in custody, Bindes and Nakihei told police they'd taken a cab from
Prescott to Scottsdale three days earlier to buy heroin. Once in the
Valley, the two bought $200 worth of heroin from a drug dealer named
Matthew, which Bindes smoked -- and Nakihei injected --
in the hotel room for the past three days, all while their 11-month-old baby was present in the tiny room.
Nakihei told police he's been a heroin addict for the past 12 years. He
says he spends about $1,000 on heroin each week, and estimates he's
spent upwards of $100,000 on the drug this year alone.
Both Nakihei and Bindes were booked into a Maricopa County jail on one
count each of child abuse, endangerment, dangerous drug possession,
prescription drug possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
