| Photo: Growery |
Police arrested a 22-year-old mother Monday after neighbors said her four-year-old daughter had tried to sell them a brick of marijuana.
Maria Ipina, 22, of San Juan, Texas, was charged with possession of a controlled substance after officers discovered more than 200 grams of cocaine in her apartment, according to San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez, reports Dave Hendricks of the The Monitor of McAllen, Texas.
“It’s unbelievable,” Chief Gonzalez said.
Ipina’s six-month-old child and four-year-old daughter were taken to live with a grandmother.
A neighbor told police the four-year-old girl had tried to sell the marijuana on Saturday, approaching Ipina’s neighbors, according to Gonzalez. The mother, who seemed to be 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 claimed they found 200 grams of cocaine packaged for sale which they claimed had a street value of about $5,000 — but no marijuana.
“I’m pretty sure she heard the mom or dad doing that,” Gonzalez said, claiming the girl was simply imitating her parents, who he said he believes sold drugs.
Both children are now with Ipina’s mother, according to Gonzalez.
Such a transfer of custody would be considered private by Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services, according to department spokesman John Lennan. Lennan said Tuesday afternoon he hadn’t heard of such a case but would “look into it.”
“How many bricks did she sell before it was reported?” asked “koolarrow,” a commenter on The Monitor‘s site.
