Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
Shaheed Wright had history of drug-related arrests
BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Despite endangering the lives of four children with a narcotic, a Newark man with a history of drug arrests has avoided further jail time. Shaheed Wright, 26, pleaded guilty to the third-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to three years probation in Superior Court in Newark, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.
In 2009, Wright's 4-year-old son brought a bag of cocaine to a daycare center, believing it was candy. One girl swallowed a small amount of the powder, after the boy handed it to her.
The New York Daily News reported that Wright allegedly put several baggies of cocaine inside his 4-year-old son's jacket pockets after a brush with the police. When the boy arrived at Clinton Avenue Daycare Center, his friends asked him for candy, and he gave them the baggies.
Theweeklyvice.com reported the girl, Wright's son and two other boys were rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark. The children were all treated and released without complications.
The sentence imposed Dec. 17 was part of a plea agreement that lets Wright avoid prison in what prosecutors said was the best outcome considering the facts of the case — which did not match initial reports and his son being the only witness.
Newark police said Wright had stuffed the bag of cocaine into his son's jacket to avoid a brush with authorities, telling the child it was candy.
But after a videotaped interview with the 4-year-old, investigators determined the boy "stumbled upon the bag," which looked similar to one that had contained candy, and took it himself, said the director of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office child abuse unit. He called it "very disturbing that the narcotics got to young children." The girl who ingested the cocaine was taken to a hospital and released the same day. Her parents were notified about the plea deal.
Under New Jersey law, a child is not considered competent to testify at trial unless aged 5 or older.
There was no other forensic evidence linking the drugs to Wright, and, complicating matters further, the child still lives with his father.
Wright, who spent nearly three months in jail until posting bail, has been arrested at least four times in drug-related cases, court records show, according to NJ.com.
