Couple accused of hiding drugs in toy bear

PORTLAND – The discovery of crushed OxyContin hidden in a 10-month-old baby’s teddy bear led to the arrest of a man and a woman after their car was stopped for speeding on the Maine Turnpike, state police said.

Driver Aaron Scott, 34, and passenger Robin Chamberlain, 33, of Portland were being held in the Cumberland County Jail after their arrests Monday in Scarborough on charges of aggravated drug trafficking.

A Department of Human Services worker was called to tend to Chamberlain’s toddler, who also was in the vehicle.

After the couple failed to explain why their rental car was in someone else’s name and had been missing for several weeks, Trooper Roger Teachout called for a drug-sniffing dog, which found small baggies believed to contain several grams of crushed OxyContin.

The DHS worker felt something inside the baby’s toy bear. On opening the toy’s Velcro back, authorities found 6 grams of what police believe is OxyContin, potentially worth thousands of dollars.

State police and the Portland office of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency got a search warrant for Chamberlain’s Bell Street apartment and found false names, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers. Some of the identities were fake and others appeared to have been stolen, police said.

Chamberlain is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and being a fugitive from justice in connection with a warrant charging her with 24 counts of forgery in Philadelphia, totaling $5,500, police said.

Scott is charged with five counts of possession of forged material, illegal drug importation, driving without a license, failure to give correct name and address, and possession of marijuana.

Both were charged with aggravated drug trafficking because of the presence of the child and the use of the child’s toy to hide drugs, Teachout said.