Mesa mom arrested after son allegedly sickened by grandpa’s morphine

PHOENIX – A Mesa grandfather’s alleged scheme to pass a marijuana test so he could continue getting pain pills sickened his 11-year-old grandson this week and got the boy’s mother into legal trouble, authorities said.

Kiralee Arlene Ruck, 29, was booked Wednesday on one count of child abuse after her son showed signs of a drug overdose at his elementary school, according to court documents.

The boy said his grandfather, Ruck’s stepfather, paid him $40 to take half of a pink pill and urinate in a cup, according to the police account in Ruck’s booking documents. The man then allegedly used the specimen to pass a drug test at a pain clinic so he could receive more morphine.

The boy vomited five times Monday night and told Ruck about taking his grandfather’s morphine, and he threw up again Tuesday morning. Still, Ruck forced her son to go to school, where he got sick again, police said.

The boy told the same story to school staff, medical staff and police.

Ruck told police she knew the pink pills were 30 mg doses of morphine because her stepfather has overdosed multiple times. She also said she’d known for at least a month he’d been paying her son for urine samples, according to police.

Police also interviewed the boy’s grandmother, who said her husband was a drug addict.

The woman said she wanted Ruck to take the boy to the emergency room when he became sick this week, but Ruck refused, according to police.

No information was immediately available about potential charges against the boy’s grandparents.

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