Tests show kids were exposed to cocaine; father charged with neglect

A 45-year-old Fredonia man who admitted to authorities he regularly used drugs in the basement of his home was charged last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with child neglect after tests showed his five children, who are between the ages of 2 and 13, were exposed to cocaine, according to a criminal complaint. 

The case dates to March 14, 2023, when Ozaukee County Child Protective Services reported several concerns about how the man, who Ozaukee Press is not naming to protect the identity of his children, and the woman he lived with were caring for their five children. Those concerns included the children being left unsupervised and drug use in the home, the complaint states. 

Several of the children, who were interviewed at school, reported overhearing their parents talking about using Subs — a reference to Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction — and seeing them crush substances up and snort them. 

When authorities went to the family’s home to investigate, both the man and woman agreed to urine tests. 

The woman’s test indicated she had taken Suboxone, which she said she was prescribed. 

The man told authorities that his test would show that he used cocaine, which it did, along with Suboxone and fentanyl. He said he had used cocaine two days earlier in his vehicle, according to the complaint. 

He said he typically snorts or smokes cocaine in the basement of the home. During a search of the house, authorities found multiple glass pipes, containers with residue in them and baggies typically used to package drugs, the complaint states. 

The children were given medical exams and screened for drugs. The results of those tests showed all five children had a cocaine metabolite in their systems. The 2-year-old’s test also showed the presence of actual cocaine, according to the complaint. 

The man is charged with five counts of child neglect, three of which are felonies because three of the children were younger than 6, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia. 

The woman has not been charged in the child neglect case but was recently sentenced to jail for unrelated crimes, including possession of cocaine. 

The man is currently being held in the Ozaukee County jail in lieu of bail in connection with two retail theft cases, one of which also resulted in charges against the mother of his children. 

In that case, police were called to the Costco store in Grafton on Sept. 17 for a report of a theft in progress and responded to find the man and the woman in the foyer of the store talking to employees. 

The employees said they were alerted to the fact they were in the store by Kohl’s Department Store employees. The two were seen in the Kohl’s store, then headed toward Costco. 

Costco employees followed the couple as they pushed a baby stroller with a car seat in it through the store and reported that when they reached the checkout area, the man removed two bottles of liquor from the baby seat and handed them to employees, the complaint states. 

The two passed the checkout area, then split up, with the woman going to the bathroom with the baby seat. After she left the bathroom, employees found several bottles of liquor — the same type that the man had handed over — on the floor of a stall, according to the complaint. 

When a police officer asked the man for his ID, he gave him a card identifying himself as Henry Williams, whom he clearly was not, the complaint states. 

The suspects were eventually identified and the man told officers that he and the woman came to the store to get alcohol and snacks but gave back the alcohol when they realized they were being watched. 

He said officers would not find stolen merchandise in the car seat because there was a baby in it. The man provided the name of the baby but could not tell officers its age because, he said, he had too many kids to remember their ages, according to the complaint. 

The man refused to pull back a cover over the car seat but eventually it was searched and there was no baby in it. 

The woman denied taking alcohol past the checkout area and leaving it in the bathroom. She said she doesn’t drink because she is out on bail on an operating a vehicle while intoxicated charge, the complaint states. 

The vehicle the couple were driving was towed and searched, and in it authorities found merchandise with price tags on it and two wigs. Also found in the vehicle were two bottles of alcohol and two crack cocaine pipes, which the man said were his, according to the complaint. 

He admitted that he and the woman hid bottles of alcohol in the baby seat and said that they were in the seat when they walked past the checkout and when the woman went to the bathroom, the complaint states. 

The man is charged with misdemeanor retail theft, obstructing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

The woman was charged with retail theft and bail jumping, but those charges were dismissed. On Jan. 16, however, she pleaded guilty to third-offense operating while intoxicated and possession of cocaine and was sentenced by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy to five months in jail and two years probation. He also sentenced her to an additional six months in jail but stayed that sentence, which means she won’t have to serve it if she abides by the conditions of her probation. 

The man is also charged with helping another man steal merchandise from the Kohl’s store in Grafton on Sept. 9. 

He told officers that the stolen merchandise was sold in Milwaukee for money used to buy drugs, according to the complaint filed in that case.