2 BUSTED AS CHILD GETS HOLD OF CRACK

MILFORD - A Stamford woman and her boyfriend have been charged by
police with leaving two bags of crack cocaine within reach of a
23-month-old child who tried to swallow the drugs, police said Tuesday.

The child was rushed to Milford Hospital and held overnight for
observation before being released.

Barbara Hawes, 42, and her boyfriend, Alain Jarry, 47, both of
Stamford, were ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail each during an
arraignment hearing in Superior Court.

Hawes, who is unemployed and living at a homeless shelter in Stamford,
was charged Monday via warrant with risk of injury to a minor and
possession of cocaine.

Jarry is charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug
paraphernalia.

Police say Hawes and Jarry were guests April 9 in a family's Long
Island View Road home.

The family did not know when Hawes came to dinner that she was
carrying between eight to 10 baggies of crack cocaine in her
pocketbook, police said. Hawes left the purse unattended on the living
room floor while she socialized with the victim's mother in the
kitchen, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The child was apparently playing alone in the living room when he
spilled the contents of Hawes' purse onto the floor and began fumbling
through the packets of drugs, placing at least two of them in his
mouth, the affidavit states.

The child's mother shrieked in horror when she stumbled upon the boy
chewing on two plastic baggies laden with cocaine and grasping another
two in his tiny hand, according to the affidavit.

Hawes was using the bathroom when the child's mother screamed and
ordered her out. Hawes walked into the living room, calmly picked up
her purse and the baggies, then ran upstairs to a third floor loft
where her boyfriend, Jarry, was staying, the affidavit says.

Hawes came back downstairs and confessed to the mother there was crack
in the baggie, handing her one of the bags that would become evidence.

During the ensuing commotion, the boy's father threw all of Jarry's
personal belongings on the front porch and ordered him and Hawes to
leave the home .

A search warrant executed by police the next day turned up information
on Hawes, whose name was found in an address book inside a suitcase
belonging to Jarry.

Hawes called the family's house the same day and left a message on an
answering machine, apologizing and saying it was "her fault," the
affidavit states.

Jarry was a friend of the child's father and was staying with the
family temporarily, police said.

A doctor said no signs of narcotic substance were found in the child's
system, the affidavit says.

But a prosecutor said although the child was not seriously injured, a
poison control specialist had to be notified.

Police and court officials agreed Hawes could have faced a
manslaughter charge if the child had swallowed the drugs and died. The
amount of cocaine in the baggies could have easily killed him, police
said.

Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Mark Hurley asked for bail to
be set at $25,000, calling the case against Hawes "very serious."

A court official said Hawes was fined $100 in May for possession of
drug paraphernalia and faces a pending larceny charge in an unrelated
case out of Stamford.

"She (Hawes) will be offered substantial jail time by the state,"
Hurley said.

Jarry, a native of France, was ordered to turn over his passport to
authorities.

Court officials said he was recently placed on probation when he was
arrested for assault in Stamford. His criminal record includes two
previous convictions for failure to appear in court.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady