Former Daycare Worker Charged with Using Children to Sell Drugs

today arrested a former childcare worker for using her children to sell drugs from her Stocker Drive home. 

Police said Pamela Smallis, 48, met with police informants to sell them marijuana and narcotics on five occasions in 2011. They said she frequently brought her children along when she made drug sales. 

Her son, Richard Smallis, 19, of Moon, has also been charged in connection to the incident. 

Smallis, who formerly worked for the Children's Palace daycare center in Monaca, on Dec. 16 arranged for undercover informants to come to her home in the 300 block of Stocker Drive, police said. One of her children, who is a minor, sold prescription drugs and marijuana to the informants, according to officers. 

On Jan. 3, police said they seized marijuana from a vehicle during a traffic stop and charged two minors, including one of Smallis' children, with drug possession.

Moon Police Chief Leo McCarthy said he could not disclose the age of Smallis' children. Under Pennsylvania law, children younger than age 10 cannot be charged with criminal offenses. 

McCarthy said Smallis has been under investigation by police and agents from the state Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation since mid-2011. Police took her into custody early today to face an arraignment. 

Smallis met with informants at the Allegheny County Port Authority Park 'n Ride lot at the corner of Thorn Run Road and University Boulevard to sell prescription drugs, police said. They said those drugs included forms of Valium, Klonopin, Compazine, the muscle relaxant Flexeril and other painkillers. She also met informants for drug sales in Sewickley, according to police. 

Smallis is charged with three counts of felony child endangerment, four counts of drug possession with intent to deliver, five counts of drug delivery and one count each of criminal use of a communications facility and corruption of minors. 

Her son Richard is charged with conspiracy, drug delivery and two counts of possession with intent to deliver drugs. Ambridge resident John Peter Banes, 45, has been charged with supplying Smallis with the drug Opana, a pain pill generically called oxymorphine.

assisted in the investigation. The daycare center could not be reached for comment. 

Preliminary hearings have not been scheduled. Police ask anyone with further information regarding the case to reach them at 412-262-5000. Check back with Patch for coverage.