Mom Accused of Snorting Coke Off Baby's Belly

(Schenectady, New York) A 37-year-old downstreet Saratoga Springs woman, Wendy Cook, was arrested Monday by Schenectady police in a prostitution sweep.

According to Schenectady Police Lt. Brian Kilcullen, Cook offered to perform sex acts on an undercover police officer. Additionally, investigators have accused Cook of child endangerment.

Through interviews with others who had interacted with Cook near the time of her arrest, Kilcullen said investigators determined that she had performed oral sex on a pair of customers while her two children, an 8-week-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, were awake in the back seat of her car.

Authorities also allege that Cook used drugs in the car with the children, including smoking crack cocaine and using her son as a tool to ingest cocaine.

"We learned throughout our investigation that while breast-feeding, she snorted cocaine off the stomach of the infant," Kilcullen said.

Cook has been charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, five counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and prostitution.

According to Dawn Constantine, senior counselor with St. Peter's Addiction Recovery, Cook has been heard to say she has thought of selling her children for money to buy drugs.

At a hearing yesterday, New York City Court Judge Vince Versaci set bail at $15,000 after Cook signed an order acknowledging that she is forbidden from having contact with her two children who were taken into protective custody of Children and Family Services before being released to family members.