A teenage man who videotaped himself forcing his 18-month-old niece to smoke marijuana has been jailed for 10 years.The girl coughed repeatedly after being made to smokeMelvin Blevins, 19, was part of a cannabis-trafficking ring when he
repeatedly made the little girl inhale the drug, reports said.
A disturbing video recording shows him giving the toddler a pipe
while his girlfriend holds her in front of a camcorder, in January,
2008.
The child can be seen and heard coughing and trying to speak after smoking the illegal substance.
More footage shows Blevins lighting a pipe and pushing it towards
the girl's face, as she struggles and squirms on a couch to get away.
A Columbus pawn shop worker found the videotape in a camcorder that had been sold to the store and reported it to police.
Pataskala Police Chief Chris Forshey was quoted by Ohio news channel
10TV News as saying: "You can tell that she's inhaling some of it.
"You can tell that she doesn't want to. So it's a pretty disgusting video."
The child squirmed as Blevins forced her to smoke
Blevins had already pleaded guilty in March to various drug and
weapons charges, including distribution of marijuana to a person
younger than 21.
He was sentenced at the US District Court in Columbus to a decade behind bars on Tuesday .
His girlfriend, 16-year-old Angel Dailey, admitted to child endangering.
She was sentenced in May to at least six months in juvenile detention.