FELLSMERE — During a delivery of food vouchers, authorities say they stumbled upon marijuana-smoking babysitters.
On Tuesday, an officer and a police volunteer delivered food vouchers to qualified residents in the community for a food distribution event scheduled for later in the day, according to Fellsmere Police.
Around 1:30 p.m., they attempted to deliver a voucher to a resident in the Sonrise Villas Apartments when they encountered the overpowering odor of marijuana smoke coming from that resident’s apartment.
They knocked on the door and as the resident emerged, the officer and volunteer could clearly smell the heavy odor of marijuana smoke coming from inside. The officers determined that the resident had just returned home.
The officer entered to investigate and found that the resident’s roommate, identified as James Janish, and two of his friends were inside smoking marijuana while Janish was supposed to be watching over the roommate’s 2-year-old child, according to authorities.
The child was present in the room while the marijuana was being smoked and could breathe the smoke throughout the apartment, police said.
During the investigation, the officer noted that Janis’ eyes were bloodshot and he had difficulty keeping them open; his speech was slurred, and he requested to lay down on a bed. At one point, he stated that he needed to go to the restroom so he could “throw up.”
A search of the room revealed less than 20 grams of marijuana and several items of paraphernalia including two bongs, two pipes (one stored in a sock inside a glass jar with additional marijuana) and a grinder with marijuana inside.
The investigation revealed probable cause to believe that Janis was extremely intoxicated and, as a caregiver, neglected the 2-year-old left in his care, according to police.
Janis faces charges of child neglect, possession of under 20 grams of marijuana, and multiple charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is being held at the Indian River County Jail in lieu of $1,500 bond.