Hazelwood dad gets 10 years for injecting kids with heroin, cocaine

HAZELWOOD, Mo. (AP) -- A suburban St. Louis man who injected his sons with heroin and cocaine in 2005 has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Stephen Pickle, 39, of Hazelwood, said he gave his children, ages 12 and 16 at the time, the drugs so they would understand how he felt when he used the drugs, according to court records. His younger son contracted hepatitis C as a result of the injections.

He pleaded guilty April 26 to five felony counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced Thursday.

Prosecutor Teresa Bomkamp said Pickle destroyed the boys' childhoods.

The younger boy told a caseworker needles were washed several times between injections, but the father had hepatitis C and now his child does as well.

The prosecutor said Pickle also injected his daughter with drugs in 2005 but was not charged with that because she was 18.

Pickle's lawyer, Joel Schwartz, told The Associated Press on Friday that Pickle was "incredibly remorseful" about what he had done.

"He was so intoxicated by heroin that his judgment became clouded, and that's why he did what he did," he said.

Pickle was a postal employee for 14 years before his dismissal last year. He and Lisa Pickle divorced in 1992. Lisa Pickle had physical custody, but they shared joint custody. Stephen Pickle was ordered to pay child support of $904 a month.

"Boys that age are supposed to be throwing a football or going fishing with their dad or doing the things sons do with their fathers," Bomkamp said in Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He had a duty and obligation to protect them. Instead, he decided to take them down with him."

Bomkamp said the older son is a drug addict, whose whereabouts are unknown. Schwartz said he has met the older son and there was no indication he was a drug addict.

Bomkamp said the younger son lives with his mother and is trying to get his life back together.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com