A South Carolina woman is now behind bars after faking a pregnancy by wearing a prosthetic belly stuffed with cocaine.
Cemeka Dannette Mitchem has been arrested on drug charges after police officials found the narcotic inside a body suit made to give the appearance of being pregnant.
Police records say Mitchem was charged along with her partner Anthony Miller after patrol officers stopped them both during a traffic stop on U.S. Interstate 85, according to Anderson County Detention Center.
Once they were stopped, officers say they became suspicious about the “expecting mother” and the conflicting information she provided about her due date. That was the first red flag, Anderson County Detention Center said.
“As Mitchem realized deputies were becoming more suspicious of her conflicting story, Mitchem immediately took off running and very quickly drugs fell from the fake rubber stomach,” ACSO told Law and Crime.
The suspect was eventually captured. Upon a search, they found three pounds of cocaine (more than 1500 grams). Authorities did not indicate if all the cocaine was in the prosthetic.
“Deputies found a suspect trying to disguise drugs in the most unusual way!” the caption to a post ACSO wrote online. “A woman was ‘carrying’ a large amount of cocaine taped behind this rubber pregnancy belly.”
Reports also say that marijuana was found in the couple’s vehicle.
Mitchem and Miller have since been arrested and charged and awaiting their day in court. If convicted each suspect faces up to 30 years in prison and must pay a $200,000 fine.
In South Carolina, “trafficking over 400 grams of cocaine is punished by not less than twenty-five years nor more than thirty years with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of twenty-five years, no part of which may be suspended nor probation granted, and a fine of two hundred thousand dollars,” according to Law and Crime.
