SEDALIA, Mo. — Detective Larry Parham says initially police went to a home in the 700 block of East Fifth Street in Sedalia to investigate a possible case of elder abuse.
“We got the call so our officers went there, checked it out and it was unfounded,” he said.
However, Parham said just after midnight on September 19, detectives with the police department’s Strike Team Investigations of Narcotics and Gangs or “S.T.I.N.G” unit, went back to the residence and found methamphetamine, syringes and drug paraphernalia.
“Inside the bedroom there was a loaded syringe under a mattress,” he said. “There was a container with meth residue in it. Unused syringes in a plastic bag that weren’t opened yet.”
Investigators say 46-year-old Brian Milburn owned the illegal drugs and other materials that were found inside the home of his 70-year-old, wheelchair-bound mother.
“In the bathroom was a baggy with meth in the garbage can,” Parham said.
What’s more, Parham says the meth and other items were discovered in close proximity of Milburn’s seven-year-old niece, who lived at the home with her father.
“Everything that was found there was within easy reaching distance of a child that could reach out and grab it,” Parham said.
Milburn’s family adamantly deny Parham’s claims.
“Heck, no, that’s not true. That little girl is his life. He cares for her,” Tara Scott, the suspect’s ex-sister in law, said. “They’re making up the charges. That’s bull crap. He would never do something like that to his mother or in front of his mother.”
“The cops are blowing this way out of proportion,” James Milburn, brother, said.
Prosecutors have charged Brian Milburn with the felony crimes of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and a second count of drug possession.
Milburn is being held in the Pettis County jail on a $50,000 bond. He’s due in court for arraignment on Wednesday.
