Police shocked by video of pot-smoking toddlersBy Ed Stoddard
DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas police said on Monday they were shocked by the video recording of a pair of toddlers aged two and five being encouraged to smoke marijuana by their uncle and a friend of his.
Police discovered the video last month as they searched a house in the Texas town of Watauga for stolen goods. Local television station aired the video during the weekend.
"Our investigators are shocked. Many if not all of them are parents themselves and they cannot believe that someone would do this to a child," said Bruce Ure, the director of Watauga's department of public safety.
In the recording shown on the local Fox news channel, two young adult males can clearly be seen lighting marijuana cigarettes and encouraging the two baby brothers to puff on them. The faces of the children are blacked out.
Police say the young adults are Vanswan Polty, 18, and Demetris McCoy, 17. McCoy is the toddlers' uncle.
"The two have been charged with two counts each of injury to a child with bodily injury," Ure said. The charges could land them in prison for up to 10 years.
Ure said the pair had admitted that the substance in question was marijuana. They appeared affected in the recording, in which they are shown laughing and with slurred speech.Ure said police discovered the video while executing a search warrant on the house related to a burglary case in nearby Fort Worth.
The children's mother lives in the house where the recording was made, but local media reported that her sons had been put in the care of child protective services.
The toddlers' great-grandmother, Shirley Russell, was quoted on Fox as saying that she wanted the boys to come home but was mortified by the situation.
"It's very shocking ... I just wish it hadn't happened," she told the network.
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What is WRONG with people?!
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