Rachelle L. Braaten reportedly told police she knew she shouldn’t give her young son a hit of marijuana, but was peer-pressured by a group passing around a bong.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – It was an anonymous cell phone video of a baby supposedly taking a bong hit that drew police to a Centralia home where they arrested the parents on Friday.
Authorities say a number of people can be heard in the background laughing as the toddler approaches the marijuana smoking device which the mother is holding, and when his mouth gets close to its top, the little one rears back and coughs.
“At this point, the other people in the room begin laughing louder and the child looks at the camera taken aback, and the video ends,” prosecutors write in court documents.
The mother Rachelle L. Braaten, 24, went before a Lewis County Superior Court judge in Chehalis today where prosecutors asked for her to be held for up to 72 hours while they make a charging decision.
Her fiance has been released from the jail and isn’t expected to be charged anytime soon.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke told the judge there is probable cause for the offense of delivery of a controlled substance by a person over 18 to a person under 18
Braaten, handcuffed and shackled at the waist, was represented by defense attorney Bob Schroeter this afternoon.
He pointed out how interesting it is that the home owner who was accused of a 40-plant marijuana grow is released yet his client is sitting in court.
One hand-held video, Schroeter said.
“Just because someone says it, doesn’t make it so,” Schroeter said.
Braaten is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail. She has no criminal history.
O’Rourke said he expects to decide about charges tomorrow and bring her back into court.
Centralia police on Friday evening announced they’d served a search warrant and confiscated 40 marijuana plants and firearms from the house on the 1400 block of Delaware Avenue in north Centralia.
Braaten and her boy’s father Tyler J. Lee, 25, were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for manufacture of marijuana. Braaten was additionally booked for delivery of a controlled substance to a minor. Lee was additionally booked for three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
On Friday night, a police spokesperson said while there, officers were informed Braaten had been allowing the little one to literally inhale marijuana out of a bong.
However, O’Rourke’s court documents describe the anonymous video received earlier this month by a Centralia police officer as the primary reason for law enforcement’s visit to the home.
According to the documents, the call by officers upon the couple was cordial. Police obtained written consent to look around and were invited in, O’Rourke writes.
The two brothers, one 5 years old and the other, who turned 2 in early January, were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services.
In subsequent interviews, Braaten allegedly admitted it was her in the video and that she and a number of other people were passing around a bong.
She said it happened four or five months ago.
Braaten said she knew she shouldn’t be giving her son a hit off the bong, but the others “peer pressured” her into doing it, according to the documents.
There may very well be no charges of growing marijuana for either of the parents, according to O’Rourke.
It turns out there is evidence Lee is validly prescribed medical marijuana and there is a second person he is validly providing it for, O’Rourke said this afternoon.
The declaration of probable cause describes “approximately” 40 plants. O’Rourke said it’s a close call and he needs to see pictures, as it seems 30 plants for two individuals would be acceptable.
He noted he didn’t see charging Lee with manufacture of marijuana in the foreseeable future.
“It’s just not something I’m comfortable charging today,”O’Rourke said.
Lee won’t be charged with unlawful possession of a firearm either, according to O’Rourke. There were three or four guns in the house, he said.
He does not have a felony background preventing him from owning guns, although he does have a pending municipal court case for fourth-degree assault domestic violence in which a judge ordered him not to possess them, O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke told Judge James Lawler he expects to bring Braaten back to court at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
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For background, read “Police: Marijuana smoking toddler taken from Centralia parents” from Friday March 8, 2013, here
Kirotv.com posted raw video from the Centralia Police Department, here
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