A 4-year-old boy brought eight bags of crack cocaine and $173 in cash to his Philadelphia preschool and now, police are trying to figure out where he got a hold of it.
The young boy, whose identity has not yet been publicized, attended pre-kindergarten school Thomas Mifflin, located in the East Falls section of the city, local station WPVI reported. Administrators from the school called authorities at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday, after the child started showing off the drugs and money to a classmate. The schoolmate sensed something wasn't right, and alerted a teacher, who asked the boy to hand over what he had in his pocket. The items turned out to be 8 small zip-lock bags - known as "dime bags" - of crack cocaine.
"He saw that big amount of money, and he knew something was wrong," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Cynthia Dorsey told WPVI, commending the young classmate for telling the administrator.
Administrators evacuated the classroom and investigated the area for other drugs with police canines. Nothing else was found.
The child was escorted to a local medical facility for tests to make sure the drugs weren't in his system. He didn't say where he got the drugs.
Some parents, including Jennifer Gallagher, picked their kids up from school early.
"It's upsetting," she told MyFoxPhilly. "So I was getting here early anyway, so I came and got [my daughter] earlier than I normally would have."
Authorities told the press that they were trying to get in touch with the 4-year-old's uncle and parents as of noon Tuesday. The child's guardians might be charged with crimes, but not the young boy.
"The child is a victim of a situation, wherever that situation is occurring either in the home or somewhere else," district spokesperson Fernando Gallard told CBS Philly. "We are providing that child with the support that we can."
