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Poland mom loses custody of child
YOUNGSTOWN — A Poland woman is being held in the Mahoning County jail and ordered to have no contact with her young son after a call to police from a concerned citizen that the child had drug instruments in his possession.
Kendra Hazlett, 19, of N. Main Street, Poland, was arraigned Friday before Judge Robert P. Milich, Youngstown Municipal Court, on charges of child endangerment and possession of heroin. The judge set bond at $30,000 and ordered her to have no contact with her young son.
The boy has been placed in the care of his grandmother by Mahoning County Children Services.
Police were called to a home in the 2000 block of Shirley Road on the South Side at about 7 p.m. Thursday after someone witnessed a young child running carelessly with hypodermic needles.
When officers arrived at the home, the boy was found playing in a rear gravel area without any shoes and no adult supervision.
According to police, officers approached the front door of the house and saw Hazlett standing near an end table on which sat two needles and a spoon with suspected heroin residue. Officers said Hazlett showed physical signs of heroin abuse.
According to reports, police asked Hazlett if she knew where her son was, to which she replied, “I know where he’s at; he’s on the front porch.”
Officers also asked Hazlett if she had any drugs, and she told officers heroin was in her car.
Police confiscated the suspected drug, the needles and the spoon before placing Hazlett under arrest.
The concerned citizen who made the call to police told officers he watched as Hazlett sat on a front porch injecting heroin. The man said Hazlett fell to the ground after injecting the drug, and her young son retrieved the needle she was using and began to run around the yard holding it.
jgoodwin@vindy.com