Woman set free to have baby re-arrested

CONCORD, N.Y. (WIVB) - A woman let out of jail to give birth is back behind bars after police say she exchanged drugs at a courthouse just days after her baby was born.

This story is an example of how strong the addiction to painkillers can be, and the story involves two suburban moms who've been in the news before.

Chandra Zittel-Tucker was arrested last spring for selling prescription pain pills from her home in Concord. Last Tuesday, when she came to Family Court to see her probation officer, officers say they watched her step out of Family Courthouse and exchange drugs with Kimberly Kloc, who also had spent time in jail for taking a 3-year-old child along as she burglarized an Elma business.

Erie County Sheriff's Det. Alan Rozansky said, "The two were friends from jail. You are who you associate with and I think that these are two people who have a lot in common."

Officers found suspected cocaine on Kloc. On Zittel-Tucker, they found four pills of suboxin, an opiate used to treat heroin addicts. After her arrest last spring, she lost custody of her four children, spent four months in jail, but had another child just last month.

As a matter of fact, Zittel-Tucker had her 2-week-old infant with her at Family Court when police say the drugs were exchanged.

"She's got the baby right with her and they're passing drugs," said Det. Rozansky.

He says it speaks to how strong the addiction to opiate pills really is.

"The majority of the arrests we're seeing right now are predominantly pills."

And it's caught the attention of state lawmakers.

State Senator Tim Kennedy said, "I'm co-sponsoring legislation that was introduced by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. It creates a real-time reporting system that will prevent people from taking advantage of a broken system, doctor-shopping and forging prescriptions."

The bill would make it harder for people to fill the same prescription more than once. The legislation is called "I-STOP" and you can learn more about it here.