PARENTS ACCUSED OF USING MARIJUANA

Officials took an 8-year-old girl and a 9-month-old boy into
protective custody, and police arrested their parents on accusations
that they used marijuana in the children's presence, Salem police said.

Officers acting on a referral from the state Department of Human
Services checked on the home at 100 Lamberson St. NE on Thursday,
said Lt. John Hoffmeister of the Salem Police Department.

Resident David Tomasini, 21, did not give police permission to enter
the home, but his housemate, Karla Cokeley, 25, consented to a search
when police contacted her at work, Hoffmeister said.

Cokeley told police that she and Tomasini had been using marijuana
three to five times per day and that she had breast-fed her youngest
child for the past eight months.

Each was charged with two counts of criminal mistreatment, two counts
of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of less than an
ounce of marijuana.

The home was declared a public nuisance and a health hazard, Hoffmeister said.