NBC News Transcripts
SHOW: TODAY (7:00 AM ET)
April 28, 1997, Monday 10:39 AM
LENGTH: 352 words
HEADLINE: CALIFORNIA BOY TURNS MOTHER IN ON DRUG POSSESSION AND CHILD ENDANGERMENT CHARGES
ANCHORS: ANN CURRY
REPORTERS: DAN LOTHIAN
ANN CURRY, anchor:
Today a Northern California woman is facing the possibility of years in prison on drug possession and child endangerment charges after she was turned in by her own son.
According to police, she had abused drugs for years.
But, when her son saw her allegedly giving heroin to his younger sister, he decided to take drastic action. This story from NBC’s Dan Lothian.
DAN LOTHIAN reporting:
It’s an unusual case of reverse discipline.
Seventeen-year-old James Cummings using a video camera to bust his mom for allegedly using and selling drugs right inside their home.
Mr. JAMES CUMMINGS: Basically its the last—last step that I can think of before she ends up killing herself or somebody else with the selling of them.
LOTHIAN: In this Fort Bragg, California, neighborhood, Cummings says he got tired of witnessing his mother’s drug use over several years. And then the final straw, mom allegedly supplying his 14-year-old sister with heroin.
With a little ingenuity, Cummings installed a miniature video camera in an electrical socket and wired it into his bedroom where he could operate it by remote control and record his mother.
Forty-year-old Aura Rae Johansen eventually discovered her son’s secret, became angry, and destroyed some of the tapes. Cummings says, fearing for his life he called police, who arrested his mother a little more than a week ago.
Later inside the house, investigators recovered some of the videotapes with plenty of compelling evidence. Police say they were impressed with Cummings’ courage.
Lieutenant TONY CRAVER (Fort Bragg Sheriff’s Department): There’s not a bit of malice in this kid’s heart.
There’s not a—not a malicious bone in his body. Everything he did to his—was done to help his mother.
LOTHIAN: While some family members were reportedly upset with the 17-year-old’s undercover work, this community of some 5700 people seems to be supportive.
Unidentified Woman: It would be hard for me to put my mom in jail for, like, doing drugs, I mean, wouldn’t want to, but if it was to help my family and help my lov—my loved ones, I definitely would.
LOTHIAN: And Cummings is having no second thoughts.
Mr. CUMMINGS: Well, as long as it can work out to the final result that she’s off drugs and my sister, too, then everything that happens is fine with me.
LOTHIAN: Cummings and his sister are now living with their father. Johansen has been released from jail on $75,000 bail.
Dan Lothian, NBC News.
I used to know some people in Ft. Bragg, dated a woman whose family lived there. They were all, and most of the town, a bunch of left wing loonies, so I stopped dating the woman and never went back to the area. It is a beautiful area but full of corrupt left wing a**hats.