Cocaine kiddies

PEORIA — Several ounces of cocaine were seized Friday morning from a Central Peoria home that also operates as a day care facility.

Members of the Peoria Police Department's Vice and Narcotics Unit searched the home at 1805 Gentry Lane during the morning and afternoon. Cocaine, which police said is worth roughly $1,000 per ounce on the street, was found throughout the house on the side street not far from the intersection of Sterling and Nebraska avenues.

An exact weight of the drugs was not immediately available because it had been gathered from various areas and all of it had not been weighed by police.

"There were drugs all over the place," said one member of the police department who was at the scene.

Three infants, none older than 2, were in the home. Besides the cocaine, there were scales and drug-packaging materials throughout the house in plain view, police said.

Animal control was called to remove a large pit bull that was in a cage in one bedroom. No weapons were found in the single-level house.

"We were kind of shocked," the member of the vice unit said. "We didn't know what we were walking into.

"It was a very enlightening experience. Parents ought to be very careful on where they're sending their kids. You'd better be doing some checking on where the kids are going."

The infants were returned safely to their parents. Two grade-school boys showed up in the afternoon, after school was out for the day. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was notified.

Romon L. Ferguson, 28, was arrested at the house, where he lives. His brother, Kenyatta D. Ferguson, 31, was arrested at another location Friday.

Both men were on parole for drug offenses, according to police.

Kenyatta Ferguson was booked at Peoria County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver. Romon Ferguson was being held for federal authorities.

Their mother, who owns the house and operates the day care, was not in the house when it was raided but also faces charges. Police did not name her. It was not immediately known if she was licensed to operate day care out of the home.

Another woman was supervising the infants, police said.


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