No arrests after child found near drugs, counterfeit cash in Lakewood hotel
LAKEWOOD, Wash. - Police are investigating after a two-year-old boy was found sleeping no more than two feet away from meth, heroin and fentanyl in a Lakewood hotel.
A Pierce County judge ordered Para Bail Bonds to search for Troy Schneider, who is wanted for skipping bail out after breaking into a home, felony harassment, domestic violence and threatening to kill someone.
Richard, was one of the bail recovery agents on the hunt when he walked into the TownePlace Suites, on the 11000 of Pacific Highway, around 12:30 a.m. Monday and made the alarming discovery.
For his safety, we’re only using his first name.
"We saw just an unreal amount of drugs and printers where they were printing counterfeit money and credit cards and other people's names, and then I noticed the baby," Richard said.
Richard has been hunting fugitives for more than 5 years and says he’s used to walking into situations like this one.
However, he says his concern was the boy, whom he says he saw sleeping about a foot and a half away from tin foil covered in drugs.
"Mom and Dad were in the room, we asked them about what drugs were there and they admitted that there was meth, heroin, and fentanyl," Richard recalled.
Richard says he called 9-1-1 and reported the child endangerment immediately.
"What the heck are these parents thinking?" Richard said. "They pass out that kid gets up, touches it and puts it in his mouth, there's fentanyl on it. He's dead."
Richard says he stayed while police collected evidence and watched the father of the boy place his son in the back of a police car.
The boy is now in Child Protective Services’ custody but his parents are still free pending an investigation.
"They told us ‘We have a problem, we need to get help’ and hopefully losing their kid to CPS is a wake-up call to them," Richard said. "It was kind of surprised they didn't take either one of the parents to jail."
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FOX 13 reached out to Lakewood Police and are waiting to hear back.
For now, the search continues for Schneider.
"Hopefully it freaks him out enough to turn himself in," Richard said.