Man admits stashing crack in toddler's sneaker, gets two years in jail

A Roxbury man admitted yesterday the crack discovered when the girl complained at daycare that her sneaker was hurting was his. In exchange, Demare Gray, 20, was sentenced to two years in jail, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Gray's downfall happened Nov. 15, when a teacher at the Walnut Grove Head Start program took off the girl's sneaker to see what was wrong. According to a police account:

[W]hen a teacher removed her shoe to try to fix, they located a plastic bag inside her shoe with what appeared to be numerous individually packaged bags of crack cocaine. Once the substance was found inside the child's shoe, it was brought to the program director’s office who notified the police and the Department of Children and Families. Once the shoe was removed from the child's foot to be brought to the program director, she expressed concern to the school staff saying, "Where is my shoe? Mommy is going to be mad at me. (The teacher) took my candy my mom put in my shoe. Where’s (the teacher)?" When asked by staff where she had gotten the (candy) from? The child responded and stated, "My mommy! My mommy did it last night. My mommy put it in my shoes and said it was candy."

Officers then spoke with the child’s mother who told officers that she was not aware of the substance believed to crack cocaine in the child's shoe. The mother went on to state that she put on the child's shoes this morning during which she complained about her foot hurting.

Gray pleaded guilty to possession of a Class B drug with intent to distribute, possession of a Class B drug with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school zone, and reckless endangerment of a child.