Parents & Grandmother Arrested In Synthetic Pot Case

Two parents and a grandmother are under arrest after authorities discovered drug use and “deplorable” conditions at a house where a two-month-old baby lived.

Calcasieu Parish Sherriff Tony Mancuso says his office got a complaint that parents of a newborn were smoking narcotics inside a home with their baby, and when deputies arrived “the house was extremely dirty, no running water, no formula for the child, drugs, roaches, flies, just a very very unhealthy, dirty environment for a child.”

The two parents, 37-year-old Crystal Roberts and 34-year-old Herbert Thibodeaux, along with the child’s grandmother, 58-year-old Anthonette Thibodeaux were arrested.

Authorities say the family was consuming synthetic marijuana when deputies arrived and Mancuso says they had completely neglected the newborn for some time.

“The hospital and caretakers took the baby, and had to take the soiled diaper off the baby that was just almost, as sad as it seems, stuck to the baby it had been so long.”

The baby is now in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, and “doing good”.

Mancuso says despite bringing the child into the world it’s clear the family only had one thing in mind.

“I can tell you that the problem is that drugs are more important to them than the care of this child if you want to know a motive. I could say a lot, but it would not be appropriate.”

All three of those arrested had minor criminal histories, and all three were charged with illegal use of a controlled substance in the presence of a juvenile, a paraphernalia charge, and possession of synthetic marijuana. The parents were hit with 2nd-degree cruelty to a juvenile as well.