York County dad accused of exposing twins to meth, police say
A Rock Hill father of a set of twins has been arrested after the children tested positive for meth, police said. The mother was arrested in the same case in December.
Gavyn Michael Lovett, 27, of Rock Hill, is charged with two counts of unlawful neglect, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the York County Sheriff’s Office.
Lovett was arrested late Wednesday by York County Sheriff’s Office Detective Walter Beck, three months after police started investigating him and the mother of the child.
Lovett put the children in danger and at unreasonable risk for their safety by using meth, Beck said.
The police probe was launched in early November, after Lovett and the mother of the children were accused of drug use around their children while staying at a motel on Lesslie Highway outside Rock Hill, a sheriff’s office incident report showed.
The children and Lovett tested positive for methamphetamine, according to police. Lovett was charged with felony neglect after exposing the children to the drug, Beck said.
Agents from the S.C. Department of Social Services had been investigating the living conditions of the children at the time, police said.. The children then tested positive for the drugs, police said.
The mother of the children, Megan Brooke Painter, 24, was arrested in December on child neglect charges for both children, arrest warrants state. Those charges remain pending, court records show.
Lovett also was served pending arrest warrants for assault after he was accused of threatening people at his job in Fort Mill in October, according to police reports.
He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2013, after pleading guilty to larceny charges.
Lovett is the 12th York County parent charged with felony charges since July, after children have tested positive for meth or other illegal drugs, according to court and police records.
Lovett was arrested in the York County child neglect case on Wednesday, after he was released from the Spartanburg jail on shoplifting charges, Beck said.
Lovett remains in the York County jail under a $52,000 bond.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 9:34 AM with the headline "York County dad accused of exposing twins to meth, police say."
