Man sneaked abortion drug into pregnant woman's water bottle and killed her unborn child, prosecutors say

A Texas antheral is facing important clip down bars aft giving a pistillate abortion medicine without her knowledge, according to instrumentality enforcement successful the Lone Star State.

John Ruben Demeter, 25, stands accused of 1 number each of amerciable show of an termination and wounded to a child, according to a press release issued by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

"[H]e secretly administered an abortion-inducing cause to a large pistillate without her cognition oregon consent, resulting successful the decease of her unborn child," the property merchandise reads.

The allegations against the suspect were archetypal leveled successful February, erstwhile a pistillate sought aesculapian attraction due to the fact that she believed she had surreptitiously been made to ingest abortifacients.

Investigators determined Demeter had obtained termination medicine online and had it shipped to his home, Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said during a property league connected Wednesday.

Authorities judge the suspect crushed the medicine and mixed it into astatine slightest 1 portion that was fixed to the woman.

"He covertly crushed that medicine and mixed it successful a h2o vessel with a liquid I.V. packet, and this was done with this circumstantial intent to origin the decease of the child," Doolittle said.

The gestation is believed to person been immoderate 14 weeks on erstwhile the unborn kid was killed, according to instrumentality enforcement.

"That baby, Presley Mae, was stillborn astatine the hospital, weighed astir 55 grams," the sheriff added.

In effect to important media attraction implicit Demeter's archetypal arrest, officials connected Wednesday stressed that the latest charges "stem from allegations involving the non-consensual medication of medicine and the resulting harm alleged successful the investigation."

During the Wednesday property conference, prosecutors besides said they judge the lawsuit against Demeter whitethorn beryllium historical successful that it is the archetypal of its benignant nether the state's anti-abortion statute.

Deputies were archetypal called to the infirmary implicit a miscarriage that had occurred nether suspicious circumstances, instrumentality enforcement said.

The defendant's woman suspected the child's begetter had poisoned her to extremity the pregnancy, according to a study by Houston-based ABC affiliate KTRK. The pistillate told investigators that her fellow wanted her to abort the babe and offered to wage for her question truthful she could legally get the aesculapian process performed retired of state.

Investigators judge Demeter gave his then-girlfriend mifepristone, a cause amerciable successful Texas nether the state's termination ban.

"These allegations picture behaviour that is some profoundly troubling and profoundly harmful," authoritative Laura Hill said. "Our work is to cautiously measure the evidence, use the instrumentality arsenic written, and question justness connected behalf of victims and this community."

Initially, Demeter faced charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He has been detained successful the Montgomery County Jail since helium was arrested connected Feb. 23, 2 days aft the miscarriage.

Now, the suspect is facing 2 first-degree felonies and could walk a maximum of 10 years successful situation if convicted.

"This lawsuit represents allegations of deliberate deception that resulted successful devastating consequences," Montgomery County District Attorney Mike Holley said. "The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office volition proceed to prosecute justness based connected the facts, the evidence, and the laws of the State of Texas."