{"id":208321,"date":"2026-06-02T11:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/208321\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T11:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:13:21","slug":"central-pennsylvania-daycare-worker-finds-cocaine-in-childs-lunch-bag-2-charged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/208321\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Pennsylvania daycare worker finds cocaine in child\u2019s lunch bag, 2 charged"},"content":{"rendered":"

YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 Cocaine found inside a child\u2019s lunch bag at a central Pennsylvania daycare has led to charges being filed Monday against two people, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Felony drug and endangering the welfare of children charges were filed against Joel Rodriguez Melendez, 31, and Emily Arter, 30, both of Dillsburg, court records show.<\/p>\n

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Charging documents filed by Carroll Township Police show a staff member at a Dillsburg daycare discovered Thursday a small clear bag with cocaine inside it when getting things out of a girl\u2019s lunch bag.<\/p>\n

Officers took the plastic bag and tested it back at the police station, according to an affidavit of probable cause, finding that it tested positive for cocaine. The daycare also gave police Arter\u2019s name, which police were familiar with, court docs noted.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement noted they received a tip alleging that Arter \u201cis supplying cocaine to most of Dillsburg,\u201d from her home, police said in the affidavit. Trailer park personnel also reported getting complaints from residents about possible drug dealing at Arter and Melendez\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Lancaster County man charged with raping mentally disabled person; previously charged with child sex crimes, police say <\/a><\/p>\n

During a search of the duo\u2019s residence Monday, police said they found cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances which were noted in the affidavit to be packaged in a way consistent with selling drugs.<\/p>\n

Suspected cocaine on a plate was also out, and in the reach of four children younger than 10 who lived there, police said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez Melendez and Arter were both placed in York County Prison with bail set at $50,000 each by Magisterial District Judge Jason Loper, according to court records. A preliminary hearing for them is scheduled for June 29.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) \u2014 Cocaine found inside a child\u2019s lunch bag at a central Pennsylvania daycare has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[91563,26540,91561,91560,91559,91562,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-208321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-carroll-township-police","tag-daycare","tag-dillsburg","tag-emily-arter","tag-joel-rodriguez-melendez","tag-lunch-bag","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}