By Bill Bryan
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Nobody got burned but a man got busted after his 2-year-old nephew set fire to a house and exposed him as a drug dealer, police said.
The child was playing with matches about 1 p.m. Tuesday and set fire to a home in the 6000 block of Hampton Avenue. That brought St. Louis firefighters and police.
Officers said they thought it strange that a man on the scene, who turned out to be the boy’s uncle, was so intent upon carrying things from the burning dwelling and putting them into the trunk of his car.
The man agreed to a search of the car, police said, which revealed what he was saving from the flames: about 230 grams of cocaine, with a street value of $4,000 to $5,000 — and $19,100 in cash.
Jason Connell, 21, of Jefferson County, was charged with second-degree drug trafficking.
The fire, which caused no injuries, gutted a front room of the house, officials said.
Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch