BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – A man was arrested by Baton Rouge police after a video showed a five-year-old child smoking marijuana.
The Baton Rouge Police Department said the video showed John Hall, 48, of Baton Rouge driving a car with a child in the front passenger seat smoking a blunt as Hall cheered on. The child took multiple pulls of the blunt without choking, an affidavit said.
According to arrest documents, investigators learned of the video on May 25 after it was posted on social media.
The child was identified by BPRD as Hall’s ex-girlfriend’s grandson.
“This was an isolated incident, but we want the public to know that the investigation will continue,” said BRPD Cpl. Saundra Watts. “We were able to positively identify Mr. Hall as the person seen in the video passing that suspected marijuana to a five-year-old juvenile who was puffing and pulling on that marijuana blunt.”
The child’s mother, Desirae Felder, was arrested in May after an investigation of two children reportedly shot while playing with a gun.
“A couple of weeks ago we did make an arrest of a young lady in which her son and her nephew were involved in a shooting where they were taken to children’s hospital for injuries sustained as a result of being shot,” Watts said.
It is unclear when the video was taken.
“We just received this information; there is no exact time date of when this incident occurred,” Watts said. “And DCFS will be involved in this case.”
A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services confirmed that the child is in their custody.
Hall was charged with contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, distribution/possession with intent to distribute schedule I and illegal use of controlled dangerous substances in the presence of a person under 17 years of age. He will be held in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison without bond.
