That was funny. Here's another amusing one.
Tot turns in marijuana at daycare center
• The 2-year-old boy told his teacher that it belonged to the man who shares the house with his mother.
BY ALISHA A. PINA
Journal Staff Writer
NEWPORT -- A Newport couple was charged with child neglect after the woman's 2-year-old son brought a small bag of marijuana to his daycare center and said it belonged to his father, the police said.
A search later of the couple's home found more marijuana and $800 in cash, said Lt. Donn Woods of the Newport Police Department.
The boy's mother, Melissa P. Connell, 21, of 169 Festival Fields Apartments, on Girard Avenue, was charged with child neglect.
Her live-in boyfriend, Christopher D. McKinney, 24, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and child neglect.
The boy, who will turn 3 on Friday, went to the daycare and preschool run by Child and Family Services of Newport County, on School Street, Monday morning and gave his teacher a small amount of marijuana, Woods said.
The boy said he found it on the kitchen table and that it belonged to his father. School officials called the police about 10:30 a.m.
Vice detectives obtained a search warrant. According to Woods, Connell was at home when the police arrived about 3:15 p.m. Monday, and McKinney was at work.
Connell told police that she had removed from the kitchen table earlier in the day a bag that had contained marijuana. She said it belonged to McKinney, Woods said.
She also told the police that the boy was not McKinney's child; the two are the parents of a 1-year-old.
The police found several partially smoked marijuana cigarettes and a small amount of marijuana on a bedroom window sill. Officers also discovered a couple of ounces of marijuana in a kitchen cabinet, Woods said.
The officers seized $800 in cash from one of McKinney's shirts in the bedroom closet, Woods said.
The state Department of Child, Youth and Families took both children out of the home and they were later placed with relatives, Woods said.
Connell was taken into custody and was placed in a cell overnight pending arraignment yesterday morning.
McKinney, a cook at Heatherwood Nursing Home, on Bellevue Avenue, was arrested at his job shortly after. He was held overnight and arraigned yesterday morning.
He plead no contest in Newport District Court yesterday to an amended charge of simple possession of marijuana. He was fined $200 and sentenced to one year of probation, Woods said.
On the charge of child neglect, McKinney was released from Newport Family Court on $3,000 personal recognizance and Connell was released on $2,000 personal recognizance, court officials said.
Both will return to Family Court on Dec. 12.
projo.com
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