Judge upbraids arrested North Jersey woman for leaving 6-year-old in house with heroin

A Passaic County judge had some strong words this week for one of two North Haledon residents accused last month of being part of a drug distribution operation.

Qu'Lasia Williams' 6-year-old son was found alone, hungry, dressed only in his underwear and within reach of glassine bags of suspected heroin and fentanyl when police showed up to her apartment to execute a search warrant.

During Williams' April 2 detention hearing, Judge Scott Rumana said it was deeply concerning that the child was left by himself in the apartment with glassine bags of heroin within reach. He said even if someone had been home with the child, it can be difficult to keep track of a 6-year-old and had he gotten into the drugs, he could have died.

Williams, 25, was arrested with Demoy Woolley, 23, late last month on several charges including first-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance with the intent to distribute and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Woolley consented to detention while Williams was released with monitoring.

Assistant Prosecutor Evan Mongiardo said the search warrants were executed at the same time as the arrests and that was when law enforcement found Williams' son alone in the apartment with 12,000 glassine bags of heroin and fentanyl.

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Detective purchased food for the boy

According to Mongiardo, police body cameras showed the son telling police his mom didn't feel like bringing him to school that day and he was hungry. Mongiardo said one of the detectives from the prosecutor's office purchased food for the boy because there wasn't anything sufficient in the house. The child was eventually released into the custody of his grandmother.

Mongiardo said he had no reason to believe Williams was using any drugs and no paraphernalia was found in the house.

Williams' attorney Uri Roer pointed to his client's full-time job as a patient care associate at Englewood Health and Williams told Rumana she was expecting to start nursing school in the fall.

Roer said Williams also had made arrangements to have a friend check on her son and she informed police her son was home.

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Rumana said he was comforted by the fact Williams had told police her son was home and that she didn't just walk out on the child and that she genuinely believed someone was going to be home with him.

"Despite everything else, that was the most upsetting by far to see, to hear about a 6-year-old being left in that position," Rumana said.

Rumana told Williams he is not there to make her feel any worse than she likely already did but hoped she would learn to never leave her child like that again.

"You gave birth to this child, I have to believe you love this child," Rumana said at the end of the detention hearing. "You [...] seem like a very bright woman and who's going to go on track to becoming a nurse which means that you've got a good head on your shoulders. You can't ever leave a child in this position, ever."

Williams and Woolley were part of a four-month investigation involving several North Jersey law enforcement agencies. The pair were arrested in Sussex County while attempting to make a drug transaction, Mongiardo said during William's detention hearing.

Items seized in the searches executed at 10 locations throughout Bergen, Passaic and Sussex counties included more than $100,000, a handgun with 56 rounds of ammunition and 9.5 ounces of suspected cocaine and 8 pounds of suspected marijuana in addition to the 12,000 glassine bags of suspected heroin and fentanyl.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Judge rips North Haledon NJ woman for leaving son with heroin