Police: Mom Let Child Smoke Pot
Talk about being a smokin’-hot mess: A mother in Washington state was accused by police of letting her innocent toddler puff some weed—and now it’s Mom’s freedom that’s going to be taking a big hit, KOMO News reports.
Rachelle Braaten, who’s 24 years old, was apparently nabbed because of a tape. Video footage, shot this past March on a cell phone, seems to show her 22-month-old son smoking marijuana from a bong. Authorities believe it wasn’t even the first time the little boy was exposed to drugs.
According to Lewis County Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke, “There’s somebody saying, ‘He does this every time,’ and so that’s obviously some cause for concern because it indicates that perhaps this is something that’s been repetitive.”
Braaten’s lame excuse for letting her little one indulge in an illicit substance? After her arrest, she explained to the police that she felt peer pressure to let her son light it up. In addition to her son’s bong hit, the cell phone video shows that there were several other people present in the house where the footage was shot.
Police officers also discovered several guns and 40 marijuana plants on the scene. Braaten’s fiancé, Tyler J. Lee, also was arrested, charged with three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and suspicion of manufacture of marijuana.
As for Braaten, she ended up pleading guilty to two counts of violating a no-contact order, as well as one count of delivery of a controlled substance. She was sentenced to a 6-month jail term.