Lisa Pint knew enough to shield her two young boys when her husband, Dan Pint, “cooked” methamphetamine in the family’s kitchen about two weeks ago.
“She and the children waited upstairs until the cook was done, because she knew it was dangerous,” narcotics detectives said she told them Tuesday when she and her husband were arrested on investigation of child abuse and drug manufacturing.
But that hazard to her children, ages 2 and 5, didn’t prevent Lisa Pint or her husband from repeatedly putting them and their neighborhood at risk, officials said.
“She stated that she and Dan Pint cook to support their addiction to meth,” an arrest warrant affidavit says.
His neighbors in Aurora said Thursday that 38-year-old Dan Pint – whose arms would shake uncontrollably when he played Frisbee with his 5-year-old boy – should not have been left unsupervised so soon. Neighbors believed the shaking was caused by drug use and said they wonder why probation officials monitoring him didn’t suspect the same.
“He’s cooking meth and he’s allowed to walk,” said neighbor Kirk Brown, 34. “He shouldn’t have been allowed out. This whole area could have been blown apart. Everybody here is upset.”
Dan Pint was convicted in 2005 of drug possession after he was caught making meth in his home and exposing two children to the toxic fumes.
Although it was his second felony drug conviction, he was placed on probation for eight years and ordered to attend drug treatment. In May 2006, he entered the private Centennial Community Treatment Center, according to Arapahoe County District Court records.
But officials at CCTC, which state officials say had a statutory obligation to monitor Pint in the community, have not explained what happened.
Mike Koob, vice president of operations for Correctional Management of Boulder, which owns CCTC, said Wednesday afternoon that he would research the situation and give an explanation. But he has not returned several subsequent calls.
Dan Pint appeared to know the gravity of the allegations against him when he was arrested.
“I was clean for a long time, and then I screwed up and started cooking again,” court records indicate Dan Pint told narcotics and SWAT team officers who arrested him Tuesday night. “I’m going to prison for 30 years. You can’t help me keep my wife and kids.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
