Jackson couple faces drug, child endangerment charges

A Jackson couple was charged after their children,  2 years and  6 weeks old, were found in the same room with a large amount of illegal drugs.

Some of the drugs were even stored in a baby bottle.

Hinds County deputies seized around $50,000 in cocaine and codeine syrup, as well as $877 in cash, after executing a search warrant on Valley Street Monday, officials said.

"To the untrained eye it looks like grape juice or church wine," Sheriff Victor Mason said. "But you still have it disguised, and it burns me up because you’re using a baby bottle and you have kids, and what if one of them would have accidentally ingested this?"

Mason said Rashad Ervin and Shelece Henson, both of Jackson, were both charged with child endangerment, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of promethazine/codeine syrup with intent to distribute.

"There's always something said about putting cleaners and all types of solvents in cabinets where kids can reach them, but what troubles us more is when you have poison like this in baby bottles, and this shows me that these people just didn't care," Mason said.

Officials said the promethazine or codeine syrup, of which they found 29 pints, is a strong prescription sedative. When mixed with Sprite, it is sold on the street under the monikers "purple drank," "lean" and "syrup."

"Purple drank, lean, syrup — whatever you want to call them — are dangerous, addictive and illegal," Mason said.

"The thing that we stress is we don’t even want this garbage on the street for young kids or anybody to use because it’s poison, added Mason. "We can’t get it all off the street, but we’re going to do our part."

Mason said Ervin and Henson have been booked into the jail.

"They're safely locked up in the Mason Inn," he said, adding a message to anyone else who might be dealing drugs on his turf.

"Be careful. We're coming," he said.

OTHER CRIME NEWS: Woman arrested in Clinton for leaving child in hot van

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.