kid mimicked parents
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Police: 4-year-old tried to deal pot in San Juan
September 29, 2010 5:00 AM
By DAVE HENDRICKS/The Monitor
SAN JUAN — Police arrested a 22-year-old mother Monday after concerned neighbors said her 4-year old daughter had tried to sell a brick of marijuana.
Maria Ipina, 22, was charged with possession of a controlled substance after officers discovered more than 200 grams of cocaine in her apartment near the intersection of First Street and Wyoming Avenue, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said. Her 6-month-old child and 4-year-old daughter were taken to live with a grandmother.
“It’s unbelievable,” the chief said.
A neighbor told police the 4-year-old girl had tried to sell the marijuana on Saturday, approaching Ipina’s neighbors, Gonzalez said. The mother, apparently unaware her daughter had left the apartment, later pulled the girl inside, the neighbor told police.
“She was going door to door in the apartments and trying to sell the marijuana,” Gonzalez said.
Inside the apartment, police found cocaine packaged for sale with a street value of about $5,000 — but no marijuana, police said.
“I’m pretty sure she heard the mom or the dad doing that,” Gonzalez said, adding the girl was simply imitating her parents, who he said he believes sold drugs.
Both children are now with Ipina’s mother, Gonzalez said.
Such a move would be considered private by Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services, said department spokesman John Lennan. Reached Tuesday afternoon, Lennan said he hadn’t heard of such a case but would look into it.
It remains unclear where, exactly, Ipina lived. A small multi-family home sits at the intersection of 1st and Wyoming, but neighbors there told The Monitor they did not know Ipina.
The area, just south of Expressway 83, contains several blocks of small single-family homes.