(Stillwater) — A Cushing couple who admitted possessing methamphetamine and marijuana in the presence of their 2-year-old child — after the toddler was found on a Cushing street unattended — have been ordered to attend parenting classes as a condition of probation.

    Joshua Matthew Henderson, 28, and his wife, Nina Ann Henderson, 24, who also were given six-month jail terms for cultivating marijuana two months earlier at their then rural Cushing residence, were placed on five years’ probation under deferred sentences this month on all of their drug charges.

    They were also each fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $400 to the victims’ compensation fund. Joshua Henderson was also ordered March 12 to pay $150 for a state crime bureau laboratory fee. Nina Henderson was ordered March 5 to complete her treatment at Eagle Ridge Treatment Facility and perform 50 hours of community service, court records show.

    At the time of their most recent run-in with the law regarding drugs, the Hendersons were living in the 600 block of E. Cherry Street in Cushing with Shamus Palermo, 35, court records show.

    Like the Hendersons, Palermo pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine and marijuana in the presence of the child and possessing drug paraphernalia.

    Palermo was placed on two years’ probation, fined $500, assessed $150 to the victims’ compensation fund, and ordered to pay a $150 crime bureau laboratory fee.

    Palermo was also ordered to perform 50 hours of community service by August 26, to remain under medical treatment and to show proof of his treatment to his probationary officer, court records show.

    Cushing Police Officer Matthew Piatt was sent to the area of Hough Avenue and Cherry Street shortly after 11 a.m. Sept. 29, 2009, regarding a small child in the street unattended, according to his affidavit.

    When he arrived, he saw a woman standing by the intersection holding a 2-year-old child, who, she believed, lived in the 600 block of E. Cherry Street, the affidavit said.

    The officer went to the house where the child was believed to reside and talked to Palermo, who was the homeowner, the affidavit said.

    When Palermo opened the door, the officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the residence, the affidavit said.

    “I asked Palermo if he was missing a small child and Palermo said ‘no,"” the officer wrote in his affidavit.

    “I then pointed to the child, and Palermo said that the child did reside with him, but was not his child,” the affidavit said.

    Palermo said he owned the property and that a man named Josh was in the back bedroom — where the odor of burnt marijuana increased, the officer’s affidavit said.

    The Hendersons were both inside the bedroom, where marijuana, a glass smoking pipe  and a piece of straw containing methamphetamine were found, the affidavit said.

    At the time of the couple’s arrest in September, they were free on bail after being arrested two months earlier by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Nack for cultivating marijuana at their rural Cushing home and marijuana possession, court records show.

    The sheriff’s deputy had been sent to their blue trailer house at the corner of 80th and Briar Lane where marijuana was growing in pots near the front porch, Nack’s affidavit said.

    “I was greeted at the door by Nina Henderson. Nina advised that it was in fact marijuana, and that they planted them to make it through these hard times,” Nack wrote in his affidavit.

    Two pots in the yard contained six marijuana plants between six and 24 inches tall, the affidavit said.

    In a bedroom under a mattress, the deputy found a box containing a baggy of marijuana seeds, scissors, pipes, gravity scales, tweezers and a nail clipper, the affidavit said.

    While the deputy was at the residence, Joshua Henderson arrived and admited that he had two small baggies of marijuana in his pockets, the affidavit said.

    “The plants in the yard were accessible to the three children of two years, three years and five years, the affidavit said.

    “Joshua advised that the kids sometimes pull the plants and shake them. He advised that he planted them because he was tired of bumming weed from people,” the affidavit said.

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