Parents accused of using marijuana

Dan de Carbonel
Salem Statesman Journal, OR
January 21, 2006

Officials took an 8-year-old girl and a 9-month-old boy into protective custody, and police arrested their parents on accusations that they used marijuana in the children's presence, Salem police said.

Officers acting on a referral from the state Department of Human Services checked on the home at 100 Lamberson St. NE on Thursday, said Lt. John Hoffmeister of the Salem Police Department.

Resident David Tomasini, 21, did not give police permission to enter the home, but his housemate, Karla Cokeley, 25, consented to a search when police contacted her at work, Hoffmeister said.

Cokeley told police that she and Tomasini had been using marijuana three to five times per day and that she had breast-fed her youngest child for the past eight months.

Each was charged with two counts of criminal mistreatment, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

The home was declared a public nuisance and a health hazard, Hoffmeister said.