A Butler woman was entered into the county Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program on a charge of child endangerment Tuesday.

Melanie L. Dudgeon, 29, was placed into the program with 1½ years of probation and ordered to continue with treatment and counseling as directed, by Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr, on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children.

She was charged by Butler police after her 7-year-old son discovered Dudgeon passed out from an apparent drug overdose on the bathroom toilet of their home on East Boyd Avenue.

Police said they were called to Dudgeon's home shortly before 10 p.m. The caller, a 40-year-old man who also lives there, told police that he had just returned home from Johnstown, Cambria County. The man said Dudgeon's son met him at the door, saying “mom is on the toilet in the bathroom and she won't wake up,” according to court documents.

He recounted that he ran up the stairs and found Dudgeon “slouched over on the toilet with a rag tied around her arm,” apparently like a tourniquet.

Police said the man acknowledged that Dudgeon is a frequent drug user.

Dudgeon received medical treatment before she was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital and admitted into the intensive care unit, police said.

Police said a hypodermic needle and drug-cooking spoon were found in the bathroom and another found in the kitchen, and the home had dog feces, dog food and garbage “all over the floor,” court documents state.

The defendant's son, who was not injured, was later turned over to his grandmother in Butler, police said.