Greece, NY -- Greece Police have charged the couple responsible for watching six-year-old Allliyah Williams when she drowned in the Erie Canal, after they found them in possession of large amounts of marijuana.
The two adults who were taking care of six-year-old Alliyah when she drowned in the Erie Canal last week have been charged after half-a-pound of marijuana was found in their car, and another 31 pounds of the drug were found in the home where they were staying in Greece.
Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan says Laura McCasland of Texas and Tyler Kanaley of California have been charged with Criminal Possession of Marijuana.
Further drug charges are pending after the larger amount of drugs was found.
Phelan says both McCasland and Kanaley will be charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child for failing to take proper care of the young girl on the evening she fell into the Canal at Henpeck Park. He says both had consumed marijuana the day of the accident.
Both McCasland and Kanaley are in their 20s. McCasland is being held on $30,000 bail and Kanaley on $50,000 bail.
Chief Phelan says Kanaley is Alliyah Williams' cousin. He and McCasland were visiting his grandfather, who is also Alliyah’s grandfather, when they decided to take Alliyah and another girl out canoeing on the canal. Alliyah went to retrieve her sandals from the water’s edge and was out of the couple’s sight when she apparently fell in the canal and drowned.
Chief Phelan says they haven’t been able to find any witnesses who actually saw what happened.
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