Casper Couple Arrested for Meth, Child Endangerment
Two Casper residents were arrested Thursday night after police officers assisted with a home compliance check and allegedly found methamphetamine paraphernalia inside a home where a 12-year-old boy lives.
Keith Scott Kuder and Gwendolyn Samantha Bouchard were each booked into jail on recommended charges of methamphetamine possession and child endangerment with methamphetamine. They will likely make their initial appearances in Natrona County Circuit Court at 2 p.m. Friday.
Charging papers say that three Casper police officers responded to an apartment in the 900 Block of East Fifth Street at 9 p.m. Thursday to assist Probation and Parole agents with a home compliance check.
Kuder and Bouchard lived in the apartment; Bouchard was on probation for drug possession while Kuder was intensively supervised for a previous charge of child endangerment with methamphetamine.
A 12-year-old boy was present when officers arrived. Both Kuder and Bouchard admitted to having recently used meth, and they both told officers that they would fail a urinalysis. Kuder also told officers that he had a meth pipe beneath his pillow on the bed.
Officers found the meth pipe, as well as an Altoids tin which contained numerous jewelers baggies and methamphetamine residue. Near the Altoids tin, officers found a small digital scale. A marijuana pipe was also found beneath the mattress.
Police say the drug paraphernalia was simply laying out in the open in places where the 12-year-old could have easily gotten his hands on the drug-related items and possibly ingested drugs.
The child was taken into protective custody and placed in a safe environment.