From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]> Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Subject: Re: News Stories from the Drug War Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 17:24:46 -0800 (PST) APn 11/29 Boy for Drugs By BRIAN S. AKRE DETROIT (AP) -- To some neighbors in an area thick with prostitution and drugs, the 15-year-old boy appeared normal, even happy. Police, however, have begun to unravel the story of a teen-ager who spent months with drug dealers and users -- a world where, authorities say, his mother sold him to settle her $1,000 crack cocaine debt. Acting on an anonymous tip, police found the boy early Tuesday morning in a small, run-down house. A man found with him, described by police as a drug dealer with a long record, was arrested. Police said the mother gave her son to a different dealer, who was still at large. "He's crying a lot," said the boy's grandmother, who saw her grandson Tuesday for the first time in months. She said he appeared addicted to crack. He had lost a lot of weight but seemed otherwise OK, she said. Fifteen-year-old Jacqui Jones, who lives next door to the house where the boy was found, said she had talked to him a couple of times. "He didn't seem like he was upset or down or nothing," she said. "He seemed happy." The boy told TV station WKBD in suburban Southfield on Tuesday that he went willingly to work for a drug dealer, but left when the man mistreated him. He then went to work for another dealer, he said. "It's hard out there," he said, adding that he was not forced to deal drugs to pay off his mother's debt. In fact, he said, his mother asked him not to go. But according to a report in today's editions of The Detroit News, the teen-ager told police and his grandmother that he had chosen to stay with drug dealers in hopes of raising cash to pay for an apartment where he, his mother and younger sister and brother could live together again. "He said he did it to bring his family together," the grandmother told the paper. The boy's 33-year-old mother gave a similar account to the Detroit Free Press in an interview published today. "He wanted to sell drugs," the woman said during a telephone interview from the Wayne County Jail, where she was being held on an unrelated burglary charge for which she had failed to appear in court. "If I owed money for drugs, the dope man would've come to kill me first. It wouldn't have been about my son." But Sgt. Shelley Foy of the police child-abuse unit said she was convinced the boy was sold and that he went along with it to protect his mother. She said his response was common in neglect cases involving drug-addicted parents. The boy's grandmother said she talked to him for about 10 minutes at a juvenile detention center. She said he told her, "Mama, I need help." "He's as sweet as he can be," the grandmother said. "He's got one hangup: It's his mother. He loves her." The boy appeared in juvenile court and was charged with delivery of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and truancy. His next court appearance was scheduled for Dec. 13. The boy had been living with his grandmother until he disappeared several months ago, but the mother had custody. The grandmother said she planned to ask the juvenile court to give custody to her. Foy said the whereabouts of the boy's father were unknown. Police said they could not confirm reports that the boy was forced to smoke crack when he was hungry so his captors could save on food and that he was used as a sex slave. Inspector Michael Hall said police were awaiting the results of a medical examination. "He's definitely a victim, regardless of what the circumstances were," Hall said. The grandmother said she reported the boy missing six months ago, but that police said they could not act because she was not his legal guardian. Police began working on the case earlier this month when they got a tip that the boy was being kept in the house and forced to work, Foy said. Residents of the neighborhood where the boy was found said the area is known for gangs and crime. "There are gunshots all the time around here," resident Clarence Crosby said. "I keep to myself and try to keep my kids out of the street." <<>> RTw 11/28 Boy denies he sold by mother to pay drug debt DETROIT, Nov 28 (Reuter) - Police charged a 15-year-old boy with intent to sell cocaine Tuesday in the latest twist in a saga that began when police said the youth's mother sold him months ago to pay a drug debt. Tazar Carter was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and truancy at a Wayne County juvenile court hearing. He is being held on $10,000 bond at the Wayne County Youth Home. At a news conference earlier Tuesday, police said they believed Carter was originally forced by his mother to go with the drug dealers to pay a drug debt of $600 to $2,000, although he later started selling drugs on his own voluntarily. "We have some indications (that) at some point he became a willing partner in selling drugs," said Detroit police Inspector Mike Hall. Carter was found early Tuesday morning after Detroit police issued a public appeal for help in finding the teen. He has denied allegations that he was forced by adults to spend the last six to eight months using and selling drugs to pay a drug dealer a crack cocaine debt his mother owes, Deputy Chief George Clarkson said. In addition to Carter, Hall said police have arrested a 34-year-old man with an extensive narcotics record who was with Carter. Hall said the investigation was continuing. Carter's mother, Mary Carter, is in Wayne County jail on an unrelated burglary charge. She had told police that her son voluntarily joined the drug dealers in early September. Sgt. Shelley Foy of the Detroit Police Child Abuse unit said Monday that police began looking for the teen after receiving reports, including one from his grandmother, that his mother had forced him to pay the debt. Foy said Carter had not only been beaten and was malnourished, but authorities had also received information that he was being sexually abused. <<>>