Cocaine possession added to child endangerment charges against Latrobe pair

A Latrobe woman and man charged with child endangerment last summer in Jeannette were arrested Tuesday in Latrobe and have been additionally charged with drug possession.

Latrobe police and Westmoreland County sheriff’s deputies served a warrant Tuesday morning at a Lloyd Avenue home in their search for Samantha Linn Stanford, 26, stemming from the endangerment charge.

Police said they encountered Michael Anthony Dewberry, 35, who directed them to Stanford in a second-floor bedroom. Officers saw drugs on the premises, obtained a warrant and seized 1.28 kilos of pure cocaine, 1.5 pounds of marijuana and about $15,400 in cash, according to Latrobe police.

Police indicated one kilo of pure cocaine has a wholesale value of about $38,000. It has a value of about $100,000 when cut and sold at the street level.

Officers with the West- moreland County Drug Task Force and agents from the state Attorney General’s office helped in serving the second warrant.

Stanford and Dewberry were arraigned before District Judge Tamara Mahady in Unity and were placed in the Westmoreland County Jail after failing to post $50,000 bail each. They face March 13 preliminary hearings.

Dewberry had been arraigned on Monday on a charge of endangering the welfare of children before District Judge Joseph R. DeMarchis in Jeannette and was released on $25,000 unsecured bond. He faces a March 9 hearing in that case.

Stanford and Dewberry were among five people wanted by Jeannette police after a 1-year-old girl reportedly ingested cocaine in July at a home on that city’s South Seventh Street, according to court documents. All five suspects lived at the home at the time, authorities said.

Dewberry dropped the girl off at the home on July 7 and, when he returned the following morning, he took her to a hospital after she appeared lethargic and was acting odd, according to court papers. Testing at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh showed she had been exposed to cocaine, police said.

Two other suspects — Shelly Ann Kemerer, 53, and Anna Marie Dengler, 49 — have been arrested stemming from the July incident.

According to online court records, Kemerer was arraigned Wednesday on charges of child endangerment, aggravated assault against a minor, reckless endangerment and drug violations. She was released on $15,000 unsecured bond, pending a March 9 hearing.

Dengler, charged with drug offenses, is free after posting $5,000 bond. She is slated to appear at a hearing Thursday before DeMarchis.

Kemerer was at the Jeannette home overnight in July helping to take care of the 1-year-old girl, police said.

When police searched the home on July 8, they reported finding “a small circular pile of a white substance” on the carpet next to a couch where the girl was sleeping, according to court papers.

Jeannette’s police dog and officers found pills that contained methamphetamine, marijuana, cash and a scale in various locations around the house.