Posted on 07/19/2007 9:22:28 AM PDT by aomagrat
In a 5-year-old’s eyes, his parents’ greatest sin was stealing.
Living in the back seat of a green 1994 Buick — between mushed food in the seats and overturned drinks on the floorboard — the child was appalled that his parents would steal four food trays, dinner rolls and a half-gallon of tea from a Piggly Wiggly to feed them.
As for the “white medicine” he said his parents forced him and his sister to snort through a straw, all he knew about it was that it made his nose burn and his 2-year-old sister throw up.
The boy’s parents — 24-year-old Brandon Suggs and 30-year-old Ragane Suggs — pleaded guilty Wednesday to child abuse with great bodily injury. Judge Kenneth Goode sentenced them each to five years in prison.
Detective Danielle Belk interviewed the 5-year-old boy for the Cayce Department of Public Safety.
“He was very explicit as to that they had to suck it up through a straw, him and his sister, and that sometimes (his sister) would cry and it would choke her — and that mom and dad were present,” she said.
The parents admitted to smoking crack cocaine in front of their children, but both vigorously denied forcing their children to snort the drug.
Both parents pleaded guilty under a U.S. Supreme Court case — called an Alford plea — in which they do not admit guilt, but admit they would probably lose in a jury trial.
In a videotaped interview, not shown in court, the 5-year-old says his father gave him a cigarette to smoke, but doesn’t talk about being forced to snort cocaine, said Wayne Floyd, Ragane Suggs’ attorney.
Floyd said the fumes from the parents’ cocaine use might have been the burning sensation the boy described to police.
The 5-year-old had 8,556 parts per million of cocaine in his system. His little sister had 12,143 parts per million, tests showed.
Dr. Bob Stafford, medical director for the Lexington-Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council, said those levels are so high it would be impossible to have gotten them from fumes.
Stafford also said the high levels indicate the children used cocaine more than once. “You can’t take that much in at one time and survive,” he said.
‘WHITE MEDICINE’
Brandon and Ragane Suggs were together for three months before Brandon got another woman pregnant and split his time between the two households, Floyd said.
Ragane Suggs had her own place and took care of the children herself on an $8-an-hour salary from a cleaning job.
“She was a good parent,” Floyd said. “She had no problems with these children at all until (she and Brandon) got on that crack.”
For a while, she had an on-again, off-again relationship with her husband, Floyd said. She eventually got back together with Brandon Suggs and, at some point, the two started using cocaine.
Brandon Suggs lost his job at Gaston Vinyl Siding Co. Then Ragane lost hers. Soon, the parents couldn’t afford hotel rooms.
That’s when the family moved into the green Buick. According to the 5-year-old, his parents would steal from local stores — clothes, shoes and food — and either swap or sell them for drugs.
“They would go to some guy’s house in Gaston and that’s where Daddy would pick up his ‘white medicine,’ is what (the 5-year-old) called it,” Belk said.
Floyd said the children never stayed overnight in the car, but would stay with relatives while their parents slept in the Buick.
‘IT WAS HORRIFIC’
On Feb. 15 at 11:40 a.m., the family walked out of a Piggly Wiggly on Charleston Highway without paying for the four carry-out food trays, dinner rolls and a half-gallon of tea from the deli department, according to an incident report.
The manager, Mike Rawl, saw the family get into the Buick and drive to a nearby Hardee’s parking lot to eat. Rawl called police.
When officers arrived, they found the children were dirty and half-dressed. The back seat, where the children sat, smelled so bad that officers had to remove the seat before impounding the car, said Larry Wedekind, assistant 11th Circuit solicitor.
“It was horrific,” Belk said of the scene. “It’s probably one of the worst things I’ve ever been on — and I’ve been on some pretty gruesome ones.”
The parents were arrested and the children were placed in emergency protective custody. After two weeks, social workers noticed the children were showing withdrawal symptoms. The test results came back positive for cocaine.
‘SHE HURTS FOR HER CHILDREN’
The children have been living with their aunt, Belk said, and are doing “fabulous.”
The 5-year-old will start school this fall. He can ride a bicycle, knows his colors and is learning to swim. The 2-year-old is learning to count and has gained 3 pounds.
“By God’s grace the children seem to be doing well, but it wasn’t because of the actions of the parents,” Wedekind said.
The parents could have received 20 years each if convicted at trial. The 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, which prosecutes cases in Lexington County, made a deal to cap the prison time at five years for each parent in exchange for a guilty plea.
“We wanted to spare the child from going through the difficulties of having to make allegations about his mother and father,” Wedekind said.
“Everybody is just distraught about it, including her,” Floyd said about Ragane Suggs.
“Whatever the judge does to her would not hurt near as much as the way she hurts for her children.”
Yeah, a five year sentence (parole in two) pretty well guarantees that, doesn't it?
Gaaaaaaaa!
In certain cases, that would be a very good thing indeed.
Values? She couldn’t have had many to get involved with drugs in the first place.
“Some people are just too stupid to have children.’
Having read the article, I have to say that ‘stupid’ is too kind. It paves over the subhumanity.
I am at a loss for words. Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all......
If that includes termination of parental rights and sterilization, I’d go for it.
After they serve their term, child protective services will makethe parents take parenting classes and return the children to the mother with supervision from CPS. It is a widely held belief that it is more harmful to the child to be removed from the mothers care than to have the child live in a dangerous household. I guess that is why the United States have over 1,500 (that number from the department of health and human services) children die from child abuse and neglect each year.
If your position is that anyone who ever becomes involved with a addictive destructive poison does so because they don't have 'values' is beyond absurd. It is a 'bumper sticker response' to a complex situation. If your assertion is correct, why do virtually all churches offer counseling and help for their flock members with substance abuse problems? Christian believers who really never had any values (according to you).
I'm not sure whether to end this by citing the old "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone etc, or just tell you to take you and your value judgements down to the corner and have a few beers! Hey, it's a legal mind altering drug - so even if you kill someone by driving home drunk, at least you'll still have values!
No money for food or shelter but enough money to supply a 5 and 2 yr old with coke? Sounds a little fishy. Coke addicts don’t want to share, especially with little children.
Hang ‘em.
Not much different than forcing your kid to take Ritalin.
While one may be legal, it has similar affect and long-term consequences for the brain.
http://www.resultsproject.net/New_Research_Indicts_Ritalin.html
That would be my guess.
“12,143 parts per million”
Maybe parts per Billion? Who writes this stuff without having a clue what it means? English majors?
And remember — drug use only affects the user. If an adult chooses to use drugs, it’s none of our business.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.