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NEWPORT – A Newport couple is in the Stevens County jail, with bail set at $100,000 and charged with giving their 3-year-old child fentanyl, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Kelsey Rodriguez-Howatt, 30, and Kenneth Weiss, 30, were arrested Thursday, Nov. 7, by the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force on Stevens County felony arrest warrants for assault of a child in the third degree, violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act, delivery of a schedule IV-controlled substance and tampering with a witness, according to the news release.
Rodriguez-Howatt and Weiss have custody of four minor children, ages 3, 3, 7, and 8.
“The allegations contained in the arrest warrants for these defendants are especially egregious because of the endangerment of minor children,” Craig Thayer, United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Washington said. “It is simply unacceptable to risk the life and health of innocent children due to illegal drug activity. These defendants will now face justice in a court of law.”
The Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force is a U.S. Marshals- led partnership comprising federal, state, and local law enforcement officers from Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. The task force’s primary mission is to locate, arrest and return to the justice system the most violent and egregious federal and state fugitives. Sheriff deputies from Pend Oreille, Spokane and Stevens counties, along with the Border Patrol assisted with the arrest.
