Bond hearing set in child cocaine case

Media General News Service
Published: May 3, 2008

LOUISA — Louisa County’s commonwealth’s attorney asked a judge to revoke the bond of a man accused of child endangerment after his toddlers tested positive for cocaine.
Louisa County General District Judge Edward K. Carpenter set a hearing for Tuesday for the bond revocation request, Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Garrett said Thursday.
Derrick A. Christmas, 25, was arrested April 17 and charged with two counts of child endangerment a day after his 3-year-old and 16-month-old sons were taken to the hospital for drowsy and strange behavior. Doctors found in the boys’ systems cocaine and a prescription drug used in sleeping pills and tranquilizers, police said.
The boys’ mother, 26-year-old Brenda D. Quarles, also faces two counts of child endangerment. The couple do not live together. Christmas lives in the Zion Crossroads area, and the boys lived with their mother just west of the town of Louisa.
Police apprehended Christmas in the driveway of Quarles’ house. He had with him crack cocaine, a quarter-pound of marijuana and $1,600 in cash, police said.