VIRGINIA BEACH -- A Va. Beach motel is under investigation after a child ingested a substance the parent says was cocaine from a spoon left in the room.
The Virginia Beach Hotel Task Force is inspecting the Motel 6 on Euclid Road today after reports a young child reached under a bed, found a spoon and licked it. The parent said a doctor determined the child had ingested cocaine but couldn't say how much.
A police officer took the spoon and returned the next day to pick up a crack pipe from another room, police spokeswoman Grazia Moyers said.
It's unclear how or when the items got into the rooms.
The child's grandfather, Ronald Hartshorn, says 11-month old Jehmai has been waking up, screaming and crying. He says the family is on pins and needles, worried about the child's health.
"This is unfortunate that this has happened,” said Valerie Thompson with the Virginia Beach Health Department.
Because of the nature of this complaint, a team of firefighters, code experts and health department workers will inspect multiple rooms, she added.
Virginia Beach has 128 hotels and is the only city with a hotel task force, where hotels are inspected annually.
Hotels that don’t meet requirements could lose permits to operate.
“There are cases where we can shut down one particular room. It’s rare that we revoke a permit. Typically we’ve been able to work with hotels to improve,” Thompson stated.
In a statement Monday, Motel 6 spokeswoman Laura Rojo-Eddy told 13News, "We take our guest’s concern very seriously. We are investigating the guest’s claims and have reached out to our local authorities to acquire more details on their findings. In the meantime, management has taken measures to ensure that room inspections are conducted in a manner to make sure that our standards of cleanliness are upheld. "
There is no police report nor a police investigation at this time, Moyers stressed.
