Loaded gun, drugs were in child’s reach at Lexington County apartment, cops say

A Lexington County mother faces multiple felony charges after police found several different kinds of drugs and a loaded gun in easy reach of her young son, according to police.

Springdale police went to an apartment on Shadblow Lane in West Columbia on Saturday night after someone called and said a child might be home alone there, according to a Springdale Police Department incident report. The door to the apartment was damaged and unsecured from a previous incident, and officers wrote in their report that they could smell an odor of marijuana coming from inside.

A woman identified in the report as Chastity Seawright, 26, walked down the stairs with her 5-year-old son, police said. Her sister arrived and took the boy at Seawright’s request.

Seawright agreed to talk with officers and told them there was marijuana in the home, directing them to cigarillo on the stairs, which she said was marijuana that she threw down when police arrived, according to the report. She gave officers permission to search the home.

Police found a bag in the kitchen that contained three baggies of blue tables that tested positive for ecstasy, the report states. Another baggie contained a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.

Seawright told police her ex-boyfriend “cooked” crack and that she knew the drugs were in the home for months. She knew her ex-boyfriend sold drugs but “he paid the bills, so she didn’t try to stop it,” the report states.

Under the couch in the living room, police found a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm with the hammer cocked, according to the report. Officers also found a try with green plant residue in the living room.

The drugs, paraphernalia and gun were all found in places where the child could reach them, police said.

Seawright was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute ecstasy, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the report. She was taken to the Lexington County jail. Her son was turned over to the custody of her sister.