Custodial dad charged with endangering 5-year-old son (Bethpage, New York)

The wording isn't 100% clear, but it sounds like dad CHRISTOPHER GROSSMAN is a custodial dad--a custodial dad who lived with his 5-year-old son in a filthy house with 3-foot high marijuana plants. I suppose if the authorities had missed this guy, we would be seeing the creation of a father-son drug-dealing business in the next few years.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cops-dad-grew-pot-at-home-charged-with-endangering-son-1.1379437?print=true

Cops: Dad grew pot at home, charged with endangering son
August 19, 2009 by JOSEPH MALLIA / joseph.mallia@newsday.com

A Bethpage father was arrested on child endangerment and drug charges late Tuesday night after police searched his home - where he lived with his 5-year-old son - and found a room full of marijuana plants that stood three feet tall, Nassau police said.

Christopher Grossman 37, was first interviewed by the police in Seaford at 11:30 p.m. in the parking lot of 1200 Hicksville Rd. where he and his son stood outside his car with music blaring, police said.

A Seventh Precinct officer decided to stop and talk to Grossman and when he looked into the car he saw it was a mess. He noticed that the father had put antifreeze near the child's car seat, and the interior was littered with clothing, golf clubs, paper and bottles of soda and laundry detergent.

A sergeant came to the parking lot and, concerned for the child's well-being, asked Grossman's permission to see his home and ensure that living conditions were suitable.

Grossman led the officers to his home on Columbia Street in Bethpage where, on entering, "they observed the house in a deplorable state," a police report said.

Indications of marijuana were numerous - a strong smell from one room, a pipe on a desk, four stems of a plant on the kitchen table.

In one room there were the eighteen 3-foot-tall marijuana plants as well as an elaborate lighting and ventilation system.

Eighth Squad detectives responded to the scene as well as crime scene, narcotics unit, juvenile aid detectives and child protective services.

Grossman was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful dealing with a child.

He was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at First District Court, Hempstead. Bail information was not immediately available.