20-year-old Brianna Ashanti Lofton, of Raleigh, North Carolina was arrested after a video she posted to Facebook showing a one-year-old baby smoking a marijuana cigarillo, commonly known as a blunt, went viral.
The baby can be heard cooing as an adult’s hand delivered a blunt to the child’s mouth. Afterwards, the baby is seen puffing and exhaling the smoke, as shown in the video above.
A police warrant obtained by the News & Observer said Lofton stands accused of “causing, encouraging and aiding a one-year-old child to smoke a marijuana blunt.”
Lofton was subsequently charged with two counts of felony child abuse, contributing to delinquency and possession of marijuana, a statement from the Raleigh Police Department reads:
Raleigh Police Department officers have arrested Brianna Ashanti Lofton (DOB 10/20/97), the mother of the baby seen smoking in a video posted on Facebook. She was charged with two counts of Felony Child Abuse, Contributing to Delinquency, and Possession of Marijuana, and transported to the Wake County Detention Center. The baby has been placed with Wake County Child Protective Services.
Raleigh residents and others began posting the video and comments on the Department’s Facebook page just after 9:30 a.m. today. ‘We appreciate the public’s help in this matter,’ said RPD Lieutenant Jason Hodge. ‘We welcome and encourage any assistance the public is willing to give us at all times.’
“Big thanks to everyone who posted information about the smoking mother and baby,” the Raleigh Police Department wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “Thanks to your willingness to get involved, the child is now safe and the mother is in police custody.”
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Brianna Ashanti Lofton.
Some are taking to the woman’s Facebook page, where she goes by the name of “Bree Bhadd,” to express their outrage towards the occurrence.
“I just wanna tap this b*tch head ?,” Marie Lessa posted to Lofton’s timeline. “Omm what crazy ass thought was in your head !! That baby hit that blunt like she did it before smh ??♀️ I HOPE YOU ROT IN JAIL and I hope someone that actually cares about the baby can take care of her ❤️ the most craziest s*it I ever seen!!”
“I’m seeing this post of hers and I find it so damn stupid,” مالك نواف commented. “So I’m guessing she wants her child to be f***ed up in the brain when she gets older, right!? She’s going to mess up her health and everything. She’ll be the same parent to neglect the child or pull another Aniya Daye stunt!”
Two other friends showed support to Lofton on her page, one stating she still loves her and the other offering prayers.
Lofton’s earlier posts on Facebook show a doting mother whose daughter appeared to be well taken care of. She once stated that the baby was her “everything.” However, this isn’t her first run-in with the law. Court records show she was previously arrested for simple assault in August 2017 and simple affray in August and July of 2017.
The alleged child abuser is being held on a $100,000 bond.