WEST PLAINS, Mo. — A Missouri couple pleaded guilty to allowing their children to help package and sell drugs.
Court documents reveal that the couple also allowed the children to ingest drugs and alcohol.
The operation was taking place near a daycare and West Plains High School, in Southwest Missouri. Investigators said the home was “nearly unbearable.”
South Central Drug Task Force Agents were tipped off about the operation back in March 2018.
37-year-old Carrie Carver is awaiting her sentencing. Her husband, 39-year-old Charles Klein, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars.
Agents said a 12-year-old made drug transactions and other children were allowed to ingest the drugs at home.
Undercover agents bought drugs from the 12-year-old inside the home, and the agents found a 9-year-old helping package drugs.
Investigators recorded the entire encounter on video. The parents were in the room helping make the deal happen. The home is within 600 feet of a daycare, 700 feet of a government housing facility, and under 1,800 feet from a high school. Days later, a search warrant turned up a whole host of drug related items, including: meth, weed, hypodermic needles, paraphernalia, baggies, and scales. Investigators also found a day’s worth of food, filthy clothes, beds covered in what appeared to be a hoarding situation, plus a room dedicated as an animal shelter. The floor in that room was covered in feces and urine.
During the time of the search there were five adults and four kids inside the home. The youngest child was four years old.
Klein pleaded guilty in August 2018 to drug charges and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced to 13 years, 10 years, and 4 years for the drug charges, and 7 years for each endangering of a child charge. All sentences will run concurrently.
Carver didn’t plead guilty — she took an Alford plea. This means there is enough evidence to prosecute her. Her sentencing will take place in September 2018.
All of the children are now in state custody.
