Outrage as babysitter, 17, 'posts video of herself forcing toddler to smoke cannabis'
Naledi Roberts allegedly forced a toddler to inhale cannabis from a lit joint
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
Seventeen-year-old Naledi Roberts has been arrested after allegedly recording footage of herself placing a lit joint in a one-year-old baby's mouth.
The teenager was arrested by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on Friday after detectives discovered the footage.
Roberts is said to have lit the joint and could be seen placing it into the one-year-old girl's mouth, who inhaled as the embers at the end of the cigarette glowed brighter.
She then then allegedly took it out of the child's mouth and placed it into her own before inhaling.
Roberts is said to have lit the joint and could be seen placing it into the one-year-old girl's mouth
Reuters
Following allegations of child abuse, officers responded to a private residence in incorporated Largo, Florida, on Thursday March 23. It is unclear how police obtained the clip.
At first, Roberts denied putting the marijuana cigarette into the child’s mouth, but did say she smoked marijuana near the one-year-old girl.
Then on March 24, the babysitter was questioned again, and she admitted to handing the young child the marijuana cigarette, according to the release.
She has since refused to explain why she put the drug into the child's mouth.
According to the sheriff’s office, the babysitter faces one count of Felony Child Abuse and was transported to the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Centre.
Roberts has no prior criminal history, apart from two traffic violations for driving with a learner permit without a person aged 21 or over in the passenger seat.
The punishment for child abuse in Florida varies depending on the defendant’s previous conviction and the impact of the acts.
As a third-degree felony, child abuse or neglect that doesn’t cause bodily harm, disfigurement or disability is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or fines of up to $5,000.
Studies show that children exposed to marijuana were almost twice as likely to “display delinquent behaviour, such as drug use,” by the age of 14
PA
More severe forms of child abuse often result in harsher penalties.
Studies have shown that children exposed to marijuana were almost twice as likely to “display delinquent behaviour, such as drug use,” by the age of 14 and were more than twice as likely to regularly use marijuana and tobacco as adults, according to Harvard University.
Marijuana smoke contains the same carcinogenic chemicals found in tobacco smoke and other dangerous chemicals, such as cyanide and ammonia is “significantly higher in marijuana smoke compared to cigarette smoke,” posing serious dangers to small children, according to the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units at the University of Illinois, Chicago.