Emily Arter and Joel Rodriguez-Melendez (Carroll Township Police Department).
A Pennsylvania daycare worker unpacking a toddler”s lunch box when it was time to eat was shocked to find something other than food inside, cops say.
The worker at Little Dreams Daycare in Dillsburg on May 28 allegedly discovered a “small clear bag that contained a white powdered substance” that was tucked inside a side pocket of the lunch box decorated with ice cream designs. Suspecting it was drugs, the staff called 911.
Cops tested the substance and it came back positive for cocaine, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. Now the toddler’s parents, 30-year-old Emily Arter and 31-year-old Joel Rodriguez-Melendez, are facing multiple charges, including conspiracy to manufacture with intent to deliver and endangering the welfare of children.
Detectives with the Carroll Township Police Department said they’ve known Arter “for years” and believe she’s “supplying cocaine to most of Dillsburg,” a small town 15 miles southeast of Harrisburg.
Neighbors of the couple have submitted numerous complaints about suspected drug dealing, alleging they see “a lot of people coming and going from that residence during different times of the day and evenings and the people are not staying there too long before leaving again,” police said.
Officers raided the home on Monday, where they found Arter, Rodriguez-Melendez and four kids, all under the age of 10. Inside the home, cops allegedly recovered cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances inside a pink safe, along with packaging material suggesting the couple was dealing drugs.
Some of the cocaine was accessible to the children, cops wrote.
The kids were sleeping during the search and were turned over to “responsible adults.”
Arter and Rodriguez-Melendez were taken to the York County Prison on a $50,000 bond. They have a court date slated for June 29.
