St. Petersburg Police Arrest Father After He Dropped Off Child at School with Marijuana in the Child’s Backpack
On Tuesday St. Petersburg Police Officers responded to the Campbell Park Elementary School, 1071 7th Avenue South after a 6 year old Kindergarten student showed a teacher marijuana and a scale that were in the child’s backpack.
The teacher contacted the school’s Principal who in turn notified the police.
Officers learned the child’s father had placed the marijuana in the child’s backpack before dropping the child off at school this morning.
The father returned a short time later and tried to get the marijuana back, but the drugs had already been turned over to the teacher, so the father left the campus.
Officers identified the father of the child as Larry Cornelius Stephens, 25, Queen Street South.
Stephens has a lengthy criminal record with numerous drug charges and was just released from prison in March, 2012.
According to the arrest affidavit, Stephens told a witness at the school that he had come back to the school to get the marijuana because he uses it to “take care of his business and take care of his family.”
Officers were looking for Stephens when his attorney, Mr. Daryl Rouson, brought him to the St. Petersburg Police Department and turned him in.
Stephens is now charged with Child Abuse and Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Sell and is being held in the Pinellas County Jail.
Stephens admitted to the investigating officers that the marijuana belonged to him, but insisted it was for personal use only.
The marijuana in the backpack weighed 89 grams (making it a felony amount).
According to the arrest affidavit, a scale found in the backpack (and Stephen’s statement to a witness mentioned earlier) indicated the marijuana was not intended for personal use.
The 6 year old child was released to the child’s mother.