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A liquid form of ecstasy hospitalized three children in the College Lakes community last week, Fayetteville police said Monday.
Investigators said the same substance, also known as MDMA, was found along with 47 firearms when officers raided a home in the 400 block of Waterbury Drive on Thursday.
Boyce Jeff Sizemore, 51, and 21-year-old Ashley Elizabeth Skaggs-Smith, who lived at the home, were taken into custody.
Standing in front of dozens of the seized firearms Monday, Assistant Police Chief Charles Kimble said lab tests confirmed the substance given to a 12-, 13-, and 14-year-old was ecstasy.
"We believe they broke it down into a liquid form and it was provided to the children," Kimble said.
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The three juveniles were listed in fair condition Friday, police said. Their conditions were not immediately available Monday, Kimble said, but they were believed to be OK.
Skaggs-Smith was charged with three counts of misdemeanor child abuse.
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Four of the firearms were reported stolen, officers said. A sawed-off shotgun, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction, was also seized.
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Fayetteville Police Capt. Charles Hunter said firearms are typically seized as a part of a drug arrest.
But the number of weapons found on Waterbury Drive has detectives taking a deeper look.
Hunter said the department is looking at the possibility of "straw purchases," or the illegal purchasing of weapons for other people.
"Not in recent memory have we run across a cache like this," Hunter said, "but one of the things we're looking at is, though they may not be stolen, we're looking at the direction of straw purchases - are these weapons being purchased and held for somebody else or used to transfer weapons."
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Hunter said the department will ask for assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as investigators probe the possibility of "straw purchases."
"The proliferation of weapons that are out in the community - as our chief has said, weapons and handguns have almost become a fashion accessory," Hunter said. "And we have to use everything legal" although "we're not against legal gun ownership. This is not about taking someone's lawful right to own a firearm or lawfully own a firearm, but it is about getting unlawfully owned firearms off the street so we don't have to respond at 1, 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning and stand over another 16-year-old kid who has been the victim of gun violence."
http://www.fayobserver.com/news/cri...cle_1054f78b-7a97-58df-84db-a9ee847144f6.html