BABY WAS USED TO CONCEAL SMUGGLED DRUGS

RAYMOND, Maine -- A 6-month-old baby who had cocaine in her
bloodstream was used by her stepfather to conceal drugs that were
smuggled from Lowell, Mass., police said.

Richard Davison, 41, of Raymond, was arrested by drug agents after
they learned from the Maine Department of Human Services that the baby
had tested positive for cocaine.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency seized $8,000 in cocaine and $1,000
cash from his home Monday.

Davison remained yesterday in the Cumberland County Jail, where he is
being held on charges of drug trafficking, furnishing cocaine to a
child and endangering the welfare of a child.

The convicted drug dealer and admitted addict told agents he cared for
the baby during the summer until giving her to the DHS in mid-August,
prior to a brief stint in jail, according to affidavits.

The child's mother, Roxanne Allen Davison, 27, is serving a federal
prison sentence for armed robbery.

The affidavits filed in court detail the story of a child who was
exposed to drugs and drug use from birth.

The baby, who was breast fed by a mother with a suspected heroin
addiction, tested positive for drugs shortly after her Christmas
birth, according to a DHS caseworker.

The caseworker requested the toxicology tests because she suspected
the infant had symptoms of drug withdrawal.

Dr. Peggy Wyman, a Portland physician, told agents the cocaine could
have entered the baby's bloodstream a number of ways, ranging from
ingesting the drug to inhaling smoke from crack cocaine to simply
coming into physical contact with the drug.

When questioned by agents, Davison admitted he used crack and was
addicted to crack. But he denied giving the drug to the baby. "I love
that baby," he said, according to an affidavit.

In court records, Agent Gerard Brady wrote that Davison and his
girlfriend were known to conceal drugs "on the baby's person" while
transporting cocaine from Lowell, Mass., to Maine.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady