Boy, 5, brings heroin to show-and-tell; stepdad held

A 5-year-old Connecticut boy found bags of heroin inside a jacket he had taken to school and showed them to his kindergarten classmates, the school superintendent said Tuesday. The boy's stepfather, 35-year-old Santos Roman, was later arrested after he went to the school to retrieve the jacket. WVIT-TV's Amy Parmenter reports.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A 5-year-old boy found dozens of bags of heroin inside a jacket he had taken to school and showed them to his kindergarten classmates, the school superintendent said Tuesday.

Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas said he believes the boy took his stepfather's jacket to school on Monday without knowing the drugs were inside it.

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"Children bring to school what they find at home," he said.?

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Citing police,?the Connecticut Post reported the boy took 50 packets of heroin out when it came time for a show-and-tell presentation.?But Vallas told The Associated Press the boy only waved the heroin around after finding it in his jacket and didn't formally present the packets to the class.

The boy's stepfather, 35-year-old Santos Roman, went to the school and recovered the jacket, but police had already seized the drugs, officials said. He was arrested when he returned to the school after apparently discovering the heroin was missing, Vallas said.

The Connecticut Post reported that the boy?was in custody of the state's Department of Children and Families while authorities looked for other family members.

Bail set at $100,000
Roman was arrested on risk of injury to a minor and drug charges. He appeared Tuesday in Bridgeport Superior Court and was ordered held on $100,000 bail. He wasn't available to comment from jail, and there was no phone number listed for his home address.

The Department of Children and Families placed the boy in the custody of his grandmother, even though his mother went to the school to take him home, Vallas said.

Vallas praised the reactions of the teacher who initially noticed the drugs, worth about $500 on the street, and of others involved in the response.

"I think everybody operated like clockwork," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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