Cocaine inside Louisiana Kindergartener's school cubby leads to Metairie mom's arrest

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The mother of a 7-year-old Kindergarten student was arrested at his Metairie elementary school after he was found with 4 ounces of cocaine, according to authorities.

Mari Mejia Zelaya, 25, was taken into custody March 20 at J.C. Ellis Elementary School and booked with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and cruelty to a juvenile involving drugs, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Mejia's son was in class that day when his teacher saw him removing four bags of what appeared to be powder cocaine from his cubby hole, Detective Jeremy Budo testified Wednesday during a hearing in Jefferson Parish Magistrate Court.

Each of the four bags was tightly wrapped in plastic and contained about 28 grams of the drug, according to Budo.

When the teacher asked the boy about the bags, he told her they were “something his mommy had forgotten,” Budo testified.

School officials told investigators that Mejia had actually checked out the boy earlier in the day only to return him to class about 15 minutes later.

"She said she checked [her son] out of school hoping the bags were still in his backpack," Budo said.

But by then, the 7-year-old had apparently put the cocaine in his classroom cubby.

"After leaving the school with him and realizing they were no longer in his bag, she sent him back into the school with the intention of having him recover the bags,” Budo said.

The teacher saw the drugs as the child tried to remove them from the cubby, according to authorities.

Though she first tried to deny knowing about the cocaine, she eventually confessed and admitted to stashing another 4 ounces of the drug in her purse, which she hid under a vehicle when she realized law enforcement had been called to the school, Budo said. Investigators recovered the additional cocaine.

Mejia told authorities she was holding the drugs for another person to earn money, according to Budo.

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