Pubdate: Tue, 08 Feb 2005
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2005 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  http://www.kcstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221
Author: David Hammer, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

ARK. DRUG BUST CRASHES KID'S BIRTHDAY

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Police on a drug raid burst into a home during a
toddler's birthday party, startling children who were getting ready to
eat their cake when the gun-toting officers crashed the party.

Amid wails from children and a few parents - and a phone ringing
incessantly with prospective drug buyers - officers arrested a
pregnant woman and accused her of selling marijuana from the house.

Shannon Hills Police Chief Richard Friend, who led the raid, found
parents about to light candles on a cake adorned with green and white
cartoon characters and a big "2" on top.

"The kids were up in high-chairs eating pizza and the cake was just
about to be lit and cut when we kicked the party off a little early,"
Friend said Tuesday. "We got them something they wish they could return."

Police did not know a birthday party was going on when they decided to
make the bust.

"The first thing I saw was the birthday table and cake, so I yelled
for everyone to put away their guns," Shannon Hills Police Chief
Richard Friend said. "You could see they had a nightmare-come-true.
Everyone just froze and looked at me. The parents started crying and
then the kids started crying."

Elizabeth Leah Sauls, 21, was hosting her niece's second birthday
party at the time of Friday evening's raid. She was allegedly smoking
marijuana in the master bedroom and continuing to sell pot out of the
house as the police moved in. Friend said she received 35 calls
requesting the drug in the short time that police were there.

"We barely had time to conduct interviews because the phone kept
ringing with people wanting to buy narcotics," Friend said.

Sauls was arrested on drug charges but was released without bond
because the jail was full, Friend said.

She appealed to the police that she was just selling the marijuana to
pay for diapers and food for her 1-year-old, but police said they had
been gathering evidence for weeks, making undercover purchases from
the home, arresting buyers leaving the home and finding $860 and a
pair of scales in the house.

The 2-year-old birthday girl and Sauls' 1-year-old were turned over to
their grandmother, who was at the party.

"We have plenty of cases of people providing drugs in diaper bags
around children, but at a birthday party? That's unusual," prosecutor
Robert Herzfeld said
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin