Police Find Toddlers Inside Home While Searching for Drugs

Richmond Police say the children are now safely in the custody of a relative

Police in Richmond, Vermont, said they found two children, each about a year old, inside an apartment when they were serving a search warrant Monday night.

The apartment, an upstairs rear unit in a building that sits on West Main Street in the four corners at the center of Richmond's downtown, had six adults present, as well as the children, Chief Alan Buck said. Buck said the children who were inside the apartment are now safely in the custody of a grandparent.

Buck said police had information that a woman who overdosed on heroin at the nearby Richmond park and ride, alongside Interstate 89, had purchased the drugs from the home.

Police arrested 55-year-old Ronald McGee and 21-year-old Shelby Simpson, both of Richmond. They were accused of possession of controlled substances and dispensing heroin, Buck said. McGee was held on $10,000 bail and Simpson on $5,000 bail, according to police.

Buck said McGee has a lengthy criminal record including a conviction for a drug-related murder in the early 1990s.

Richmond is only home to about 4,100 people, but the police department said the community has felt heroin's impact in a big way. Buck said Richmond has seen three overdoses this month on heroin, with one of them, by a 34-year-old man, resulting in a death.

"This is what's leading to all our smash and grabs that we get, a lot of times on the secondary roads where people leave their valuables in their cars," Buck noted. "People are trying to get a fix, or money for a fix."

Buck said other burglaries and thefts around town are also linked to drug addiction. "And not just here in Richmond, but all throughout the county and all throughout the state," he added.

Richmond police officers now carry naloxone, the antidote for opiate drug overdoses, in case they arrive at the scene of an overdose before paramedics.

Buck said his department is still investigating the alleged drug dealing from the downtown apartment, to see if it can be linked to the other recent overdoses in town, or other criminal activity.
 

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