Kentucky police are praising the honesty of a toddler who helped them locate a suspect in drug trafficking, even though several adults had refused to cooperate.
Police arrived at a Williamsburg residence on Friday. This is a city of approximately 5,300 residents in the southern part of Kentucky, just an hour north of Knoxville, Tennessee. Tina Hicks (45), a Williamsburg resident, was being sought by police on charges of drug indictment and four other warrants.
The adults at the house were not cooperative and refused to confirm Hicks’ presence. A young boy described as “a brave, honest toddler” in the police report stood up and put his hands on his hips to confirm Hicks’ location.
“It’s good, to be honest…we shouldn’t lie,” said the child. According to the report, she stated that “she is in the room next to her bathroom!”
Hicks was hiding when police entered the room that had been identified by the boy. She was immediately taken into custody and booked at the Whitley County Detention Center.
According to jail records, Hicks was charged with two counts: first-degree possession (methamphetamine); two charges of buying or possessing drugs paraphernalia; two counts of failure to appear; one contempt of court order for libel/slander resistance; and one count of non-payment court costs, fees, or fines. Some of these charges go back over a year. It is not clear when she will appear in court.
The police do not believe that the toddler lives at Hicks’ home. They believe that he was visiting family and was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. They claimed the child was not in danger.
“He was healthy, intelligent, and in no way appeared to be abused,” the statement from the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department continued. “If deputies thought he was a potential victim of repercussions, it would have been dealt with.”
