Young Boy Found Asleep On Bag Of Marijuana

A five year old boy was found sleeping on a large bag of marijuana in the trunk of a car as Henry County deputy searched for drugs.

Sgt. Jesse Ingram said he stopped a car Saturday night but what began as a routine traffic stop along U.S. 431 in Abbeville ended being anything but routine.  Ingram said he planned to issue only a warning citation to Mariea Smith before detecting the scene of marijuana coming from the rear of the car.  Ingram said he also noticed two passengers in the car were a little too nervous for a routine traffic stop.

One of the men first claimed the trunk of the Mitsubishi Eclipse would not open because of a mechanical defect but later said he didn't want Ingram to open it because the man's five year old son was sleeping inside.  When the trunk was opened, Ingram said he found the child asleep on a bag containing two pounds of high-grade marijuana. 

"It's a sad day when a parent, or any adult for that matter, puts a child in danger to conceal illegal drugs," Henry County Sheriff Will Maddox said.  "The vehicle could have been rear-ended, he could have suffocated from carbon monoxide, there's just so much that could have happened to that child".

Arrested were Smith, 30, Jerome Jackson, 23, and Anthony Darrell Smith whose age was not immediately available.  All three are from the Dothan area.  The child was turned over to the Department of Human Resources.

"You never know what you'll find when you're searching for illegal drugs but this is as low as a person can get," Maddox said.