Nicole Rinker, Racquel Price (Floyd County Sheriff’s Office)
Two Rome, Georgia, women found themselves behind bars Tuesday after they allegedly forced a 7-year-old girl with an unspecified medical condition to eat and vape cannabis.
Floyd County jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Nicole Lucille Rinker, 35, and Racquel Price, 36, were held on charges of methamphetamine possession, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, first-degree cruelty to children, and reckless conduct. According to WSB-TV, citing an arrest report, the victim was “placed under excessive mental and physical stress due to accused[‘s] intentional actions.” Those actions allegedly included giving THC products — a gummy and vape pen — to the child.
The arrest document did not say how or if the child was related to the defendants, WSB-TV reported. The charged cruelty to children statute, § 16-5-70(B), says that “[a]ny person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when such person maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.”
The first-degree felony charge is punishable upon conviction by “not less than five nor more than 20 years.”
Floyd County court records show several closed cases against both defendants going back several years. Price was convicted of simple assault and obstruction or hindering law enforcement in 2015. Her probation was revoked months later after she tested positive for methamphetamines, records show. In March 2016, Price pleaded guilty in a separate family violence battery case; the victim was a man she had lived with. Third-degree cruelty to children charges were not prosecuted.
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In November 2014, Rinker was sentenced for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Months later, she was taken back into custody for violating her probation by testing positive for amphetamines and methamphetamines, court documents say. Rinker was ordered released from custody in May 2015. In August 2015, Rinker again violated her probation because she “failed to avoid injurious and vicious habits,” testing positive again for methamphetamine. A Rinker motion to be released from custody was denied in March 2016. She was pregnant at the time, court records show.
“After discussion with counsel the court hereby finds it was the intent for baby to be born while mother in custody and DFACS [The Division of Family and Children Services] will assume custody to protect the child. Said motion is hereby denied,” the court ruled.
Although its unclear when Rinker gave birth, the child would be approximately 7 years old today.
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