MOTHER'S 5 CHILDREN TAKEN IN DRUG CASE

A 9-Year-Old Daughter Allegedly Tried To Sell Marijuana At School.

BELOIT (AP)- Authorities removed five children and charged a 23-year-old
woman after one of her kids allegedly tried to sell marijuana at her
elementary school.

Misty Sharron Barron, of Beloit, was charged with child neglect,
maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession of marijuana with
intent to deliver. She faces more than seven years in prison and $30,000 in
fines if convicted.

A criminal complaint said Barron's 9-year-old daughter was caught trying to
sell marijuana Tuesday at a Beloit elementary school. She told police she
took it from a bag she found under her mother's bed.

The child told police that when her mother smokes marijuana, she takes her
four siblings, the youngest of whom is 6 months old, into her bedroom and
watches them, the complaint said.

Court records show police found marijuana and drug paraphernalia in
Barron's bedroom when they searched her home. Barron said the marijuana
belonged to someone else, but she planned to sell it to support her
children, records show.

Barron later acknowledged that she smokes marijuana in front of her
children about twice a day, but said she believed they didn't know what she
was doing, the complaint said.

Barron said she had refused to give her daughter $1 on Tuesday and the
child may have taken the marijuana to school to sell it for $1, according
to the complaint.

Beloit Capt. Sam Lathrop said the children were taken into custody by the
Department of Social Services. No action was taken against the girl.

The mother was released on $750 bond and was ordered not to see her
children unless authorities allow it.