Newly released police body camera footage from last year shows a 9-year-old boy in Nevada turning over more than 100 grams of methamphetamine he found under his mother’s nightstand, resulting in drug trafficking charges being filed against Kendra Long.
The footage, obtained by Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS, showed officers with the Henderson Police Department in July 2022 responding to the family’s home in regard to a request for a welfare check on the child. Officers knock on the door, which opens seconds later as the little boy walks outside with his arm outstretched and hands police of zip-close bag containing a hefty amount of methamphetamine.
Though the child’s face is censored, it is clear that he is upset about the situation and is crying and breathing rapidly. A surprised Long tells the officers that she has no idea what is going on, stating that her son took her phone and had locked himself in the bathroom for about an hour.
“I have no idea what that is,” Long says to the officer holding the bag of meth.
“Well, he just handed it to me,” the officer responds, referring to Long’s son.
The footage then cuts to another officer speaking to the child outside of the house and asking him what he found that made him “scared.”
“Drugs,” the boy replies through tears before confirming that he knows what drugs look like from seeing them on TV. “I just saw a couple of bags. I was curious, pulled it out, and then that’s when I knew what it was.”
As the officers examine the drugs, one can be heard exclaiming, “Wow, that’s a lot of meth,” while another says it was a “top five” meth haul in his 20-year law enforcement career.
“I can honestly say this is the first time I can say that a kid’s walked out with 12 pounds of meth in a baggie and handed it to us,” one of the officers says, apparently exaggerating the weight of the contraband.
Back inside of the home, officers tell Long that the bag contained “quite a bit of meth,” explaining that it was too much to be considered “just recreational” or for “personal use.”
“It’s like enough for, you know, a couple of hundred people to party on a weekend,” the officer says.
According to the report, the boy was helping his mother look for something in the house when he came across the drugs. He then brought them into the bathroom and called his father, who is divorced from Long, and told him what he had found. The boy’s father then called 911.
During the subsequent criminal proceedings, prosecutors reportedly found text messages on Long’s phone indicating that she had been selling drugs from her residence while her son was in the home. Long in April 2023 pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act and one misdemeanor count of child abuse, KLAS reported. A judge sentenced Long to two years of probation.
Long in October 2023 reportedly violated her parole after being caught in possession of meth and cocaine. In December she was reportedly sentenced to time served and an additional two years of probation.
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