Casper Residents Arrested for Child Endangerment, Methamphetamine

Two Casper residents have been booked into jail for allegedly having methamphetamine and a shotgun inside a house where a toddler was living.

Frank Casias, 27, was booked on recommended charges of child endangerment with methamphetamine, felony methamphetamine possession as a third or subsequent offense and a criminal warrant.

Shelby Burnett, 23, was arrested on recommended charges of child endangerment with methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.

According to affidavits of probable cause, Casias was arrested Saturday afternoon when an officer on routine patrol saw a Honda without registration blocking access to an alley in the 900 Block of North Elma.

Burnett said she was using the car to move items from the house and, when asked, told the officer that Casias was home. The officer knew Casias had a warrant out for his arrest.

The officer told Casias that he was wanted and when Casias went in the house to put a shirt on, he allegedly emptied a syringe, a small plastic container and a shotgun shell from his pocket onto a couch. He then tried to cover the items with a tarp.

Roughly 24 hours later, five police officers returned to the home to execute a search warrant. Several pipes, bongs and a "krong" were located in plain view, according to the affidavit. Burnett was not home.

During the search, the officers saw a vehicle with Burnett, another woman and a child inside approach the house. Burnett and the other woman looked at the house, saw the officers and drove away.

Another officer in the area stopped the vehicle and took them back to the house.

"Burnett was shown the controlled substances, and paraphernalia strewn throughout the house. Burnett saw the objects and didn't pay any attention to them, as if they were a normal part of the home's decor," the affidavit reads in part.

A glass light bulb with suspected methamphetamine inside was allegedly found beneath a chair in the living room. A child's NERF gun was leaning up against a chair just a few feet from the pipe.

Other amounts of methamphetamine and paraphernalia were found inside the house, according to police, some of it near children's toys. A Remington shotgun was found next to the bed where Casias, Burnett and the child would sleep, and police took the gun because several of the residents were prohibited from owning firearms.

The child was taken into protective custody, though Burnett protested.

"It was very obvious that Burnett didn't think that anything was wrong with their current living situation," the affidavit states.

Police note that roughly a month ago, an officer assisted probation and parole with a home visit at the same house. Methamphetamine was found during that visit.

Casias was previously convicted of drug possession in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, according to the affidavit.