Morning playtime at a Bronx Head Start center turned serious yesterday – when a 3-year-old girl brought cocaine to class, police said.
The preschooler pulled a deck of cards from her jacket at the La Peninsula Head Start Center in the Longwood section at 9 a.m., and two glassine envelopes of cocaine fell from the pocket, cops said.
The child’s teacher quickly searched the jacket and discovered another packet of drugs, cops said.
Police were called to the Manida Street program, where an investigation led authorities to the girl’s Lafayette Avenue home in Hunts Point.
There, they arrested Rafael Rojas, the child’s father.
Rojas, nabbed twice previously for drug sale and drug possession, admitted he bought the coke, cops said. It’s unclear how it wound up in the little girl’s jacket pocket.
His girlfriend said the coat was a gift, and she believed the drugs must have been in the garment when it was handed over, but wouldn’t comment any further.
Rojas, 25, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, cops said.
The director of the Head Start program couldn’t be reached for comment.
La Peninsula Community Organization, founded in 1965, runs five Head Start Centers in the South Bronx. The federally funded program serves over 700 children, providing education, health and social services to low-income kids.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte