Washington parents accused of injecting children with heroin -- which they called 'sleep juice'

A Washington state couple is accused of injecting their three young children with heroin -- which they called "feel good medicine."

Authorities said Ashlee Hutt and Leroy McIver lived with their three children -- ages 6, 4 and 2 -- in a filthy Spanaway home filled with rat droppings and drug needles, reported KIRO-TV.

Another person who lived in the home contacted Child Protective Services after they saw the 24-year-old Hutt inject her children with drugs.

Both parents admitted to investigators that they were addicted to heroin.

Investigators interviewed the children, and court documents show the eldest child claimed his parents gave him and his two younger sisters "feel good medicine," which the boy described as white powder mixed with water and then injected into them.

The boy said he and his sisters would then go to sleep after they were injected with the drug, which they also called "sleep juice."

Two of the children showed traces of heroin during a toxicology screening, but one of those levels was too low to confirm the presence of the drug, and the third child tested negative.

All three children showed puncture marks and bruising consistent with needle injections.

Neighbors said sheriff's deputies were frequently called to the family's home, but they were unaware the children had been injected with drugs.

The children were removed from the couple's home in November 2015, after the CPS investigation, but both parents were arrested in September on bench warrants after failing to appear in court on a variety of charges in connection with their children.

Hutt and the 25-year-old McIver have pleaded not guilty to three counts of second-degree child assault, delivery of a controlled substance to a person under 18 and child endangerment.

They both remain in jailed on $100,000 bond as they await trial.