Police in Richmond Heights arrested a 33-year-old Cleveland Heights woman at a local Meijer store on September 7, 2026, after receiving a report that she appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while shopping with two young children. Officers say they found blue powder and a straw with blue residue inside her vehicle, and the children, ages 6 and 10, were released to their grandmother.
According to Cleveland.com, officers responded to the Meijer on September 7 after a report of a woman at the store with the children while allegedly under the influence. Police located the woman inside the store, and loss prevention staff told officers she had spent about an hour moving between just two aisles before officers arrived.
Surveillance Footage And A Search Of Her Car
Surveillance video reviewed by police appeared to show the woman using something in the store's parking lot, per the same report. She agreed to let officers search her vehicle, and inside they say they discovered blue powder along with a straw coated in blue residue.
When asked about what was found, the woman gave police two different explanations. She said the blue powder was crushed Percocet, but she also told officers she had smoked crack earlier that day, the outlet reports.
Children Released To Grandmother As Charges Filed
Police arrested the woman on a charge of child endangerment following the search. The children, ages 6 and 10, were not taken into custody and were instead released to their grandmother, according to the report.
A May 2025 Richmond Heights child-endangerment case involved a 33-year-old woman at Austen Lane, not a second child-endangerment arrest tied to the Richmond Heights Meijer. The Meijer incident in that blotter involved a separate 52-year-old Cleveland woman cited for stealing groceries on May 18, 2025, and given a one-year trespass warning, per a separate Cleveland.com blotter report.
Ohio law addresses child endangerment under state statute, though the publicly available excerpt of Ohio Revised Code Section 2919.22 covers a range of prohibited conduct toward children and does not by itself spell out how the law applies to this particular case. No further details on formal charges, bond, or a court date for the Cleveland Heights woman have been reported.
