Published: April 23, 2008 09:19 pm      

Boyd woman charged with allowing twins to ingest crack

CATLETTSBURG — A Westwood woman has been charged with abusing her 2-year-old twin sons by placing them in a situation that caused them to ingest crack cocaine.

Cheri L. Delawder, 40, of the 2300 block of Sarah Road, was indicted last week by a Boyd County grand jury on a charge of first-degree criminal abuse of children ages 12 or under.

The charge is a Class C felony. If convicted, Delawder could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

The indictment alleges Delawder committed the abuse “by smoking crack cocaine in close proximity of the children, exposing them to ingestion of crack cocaine, thereby causing the children to test positive for high levels of cocaine.”

According to Boyd Commonwealth’s Attorney David Justice, the alleged abuse came to light on Dec. 2, after Catlettsburg police responded to a report of an unresponsive man at a residence in the 1200 block of Oak Street.

The man, Justice said, was Delawder’s 44-year-old boyfriend, Kenneth Henderson, who was pronounced dead at the scene. It was Delawder who called police to report Henderson was not breathing, he said.

Police searched the residence and found marijuana, a loaded handgun and paraphernalia commonly used to smoke crack, Justice said. They also found Delawder’s twins.

Tests performed on the toddlers revealed both had high levels of cocaine in their systems, Justice said. In fact, he said the levels were so sufficiently high that the examiner who performed the tests opined that the drug would’ve had to have gotten into the childrens’ systems by means other than them inhaling second-hand crack smoke.

Investigators don’t know for certain how the drug got into the childrens’ bodies, Justice said.

Delawder’s children were placed in the custody of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Justice said. Delawder was arrested in mid-February and remained in the Boyd County Detention Center on Wednesday under $10,000 bond.

Delawder’s arraignment hadn’t been scheduled as of Wednesday.

A grand jury indictment is a formal accusation of a crime and does not establish guilt.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.