The Superior Telegram
A Superior man accused of providing papers for rolling marijuana in to a teen relative and later punching the boy made his initial appearance in Douglas County Court Wednesday.
Donald Mark Gray, 49, faces one felony count of attempted physical abuse of a child and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a child stemming from a May 23 incident.
The teen ran up to Police Officer Joel Markon's squad car and told him he had been doing drugs and needed help. The boy asked to be brought to St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth.
In his statement to police, the teen said he was at Gray's house in Superior and the man begged the teen for some money to buy drugs, according to the complaint. When the drugs were delivered, the boy stated, he was handed some marijuana and he rolled it into a joint with paper his dad gave him. He later asked Gray to use the phone to call his mother, the teen stated. Gray overheard the conversation, got mad and punched the youth in the face and back of the head, according to the complaint. The teen ran outside, saw Markon and ran to him.
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Gray pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. He remains free on $1,000 cash bail. As a condition of his bail, he cannot possess or use drugs and he is to have no contact with the victim. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 24.
If convicted, he faces up to three years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine for the felony charge and up to nine months imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge.
