Woman Used Own Children to Sell Cocaine, Police Say

A Panorama City woman will be arraigned Monday in federal court on charges that she sold rock cocaine across the street from an elementary school and used her two children and a nephew, all teen-agers, to hawk the drug.

Terris Ann Paige, 35, is being held on $50,000 bail at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women. Paige was charged in a seven-count indictment Thursday with selling rock--or crystalline--cocaine near Liggett Street Elementary School in Panorama City.

She is charged with four counts of distributing narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school and three counts of using juveniles to sell narcotics, Special Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan Bryant-Deason said.

Paige’s daughter, 13, son, 17, and nephew, 15, are being held at Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, Bryant-Deason said.

Bryant-Deason would not elaborate on the role that the teen-agers played in the alleged drug sales, but said the children participated in the transactions and were aware that Paige was selling illegal drugs.

“They were with her, side by side,” she said of the children.

Paige was arrested May 25 by undercover Los Angeles police officers at her apartment in the 9300 block of Sylmar Avenue, across the street from the school.

Bryant-Deason said police investigated Paige after receiving tips that drugs were being sold at her residence. Bryant-Deason said it was unknown if drug sales were made to schoolchildren.

Narcotics officers purchased 12.6 grams of cocaine from Paige in April and May, she said. Most of the purchases were of small amounts, but on one occasion, officers purchased 9 grams, Bryant-Deason said.

The purchase of 9 grams at one time is significant, she said, because it means Paige could face a stiff sentence if convicted. A person convicted of selling 5 grams of cocaine faces a mandatory sentence of five to 40 years in prison, Bryant-Deason said. If the sale is within 1,000 feet of a school, the sentence is doubled, she said.

Bryant-Deason said Paige’s arrest was part of a federal attack on drug sales near schools. Of 24 cases prosecuted in Los Angeles this year, nine have ended in convictions, she said.

Along with Paige, three other people were charged with selling narcotics within 1,000 feet of three Los Angeles schools in separate indictments Thursday.

Lonnie Calvin Williams, 34, and Lesester Duva McDoughtery, 30, both of Los Angeles, were accused of selling cocaine near Manchester Avenue School and Bret Harte Preparatory School in South-Central Los Angeles, Bryant-Deason said. She said Clarence Bell, 22, a one-time Los Angeles resident visiting the area from St. Louis, was charged with selling cocaine across the street from Utah Elementary School in East Los Angeles.