Friendship Park complaint leads to drugs and child neglect charges

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Picayune Police officers were dispatched to Friendship Park in reference to suspected drug activity which resulted in the discovery of two adults and one juvenile allegedly smoking marijuana in the presence of a seven-year-old child, said Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri.

On May 1 at approximately 12:55 p.m. officers responded to a report of suspected drug activity at Friendship Park. When they arrived they observed two adults and two juvenile in a vehicle. The older occupants appeared to be attempting to conceal something within the vehicle, Magri said.

The officers made contact with the driver, identified as Christopher Odom, 21, of 10 Seal Rd., in Picayune and were able to detect a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming out of the vehicle, Magri said.

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Officers asked Odom and the other passengers identified as Tasheena Hayden, 26, of 463 White Chapel Rd., in Carriere and one male juvenile, 17, to exit the vehicle, Magri said.

Officers located a bag containing a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana while patting Odom down, leading officers to take him into custody, Magri said.

Through investigation, it was learned that all three subjects were smoking marijuana inside the vehicle in the presence of a seven-year-old child, Magri said.

Hayden and the 17-year-old male were also taken into custody for possession of marijuana, Magri said. Hayden, the mother of the child, was additionally charged with child neglect, Magri said.

The seven-year-old was released at the scene to a relative, Magri said.