Deputies: Woman uses child, 4, to smuggle pot into jail

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A mother is accused of trying to smuggle marijuana into a jail for her boyfriend. Deputies said she stuffed the weed in her four-year-old son’s pant pocket.

Jenifer Patterson, 24, took two children to the Columbus Correctional Institute Sunday to visit Cody Lambert, 24. Deputies say the younger of the two, a 4-year-old boy, is Lambert’s son.

Deputies said Patterson told Lambert there were drugs in the child’s pant pocket. When Patterson took the older child to the restroom, Lambert reached into the younger child’s pocket and removed the marijuana, deputies said.

The whole incident was captured on surveillance video inside the jail.

Patterson is now charged with providing drugs to an inmate; charges are pending against Lambert.

Both children were turned over to the Department of Social Services.