MAN ACCUSED OF STASHING DRUGS ON 4-YEAR-OLD.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Deputies arrested a man they say planted drugs on his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter during a standoff with a deputy.

Stopped by a deputy who thought he was driving a stolen car, Dibrell Zachary Chambers, 31, of Lancaster refused to obey the deputy's orders but yelled for his girlfriend to come out of a motel room, deputies said.

Then he coaxed the daughter past the deputy, put two pieces of rock cocaine in her pocket out of the deputy's sight and told her to take the rocks to her mother, deputies said.

Chambers then laid on the ground and allowed the deputy to arrest him.

``The deputy was following what he thought may be a stolen car when the suspect sped away,'' said Deputy Bobby Rush. ``When he caught up to him he ordered him to the ground but the suspect didn't comply.''

When other deputies arrived, they questioned the girl's mother. She told them she had taken the cocaine from the girl and put it in her pocket, deputies said.

Chambers was arrested Monday on suspicion of possession of narcotics and child endangerment, deputies said. He was being held at the Lancaster sheriff's station in lieu of $50,000 bail.

When Chambers called the girl to him, the deputy didn't know whether the man intended to use her as a shield, Rush said.

The suspect picked her up and, turning his back to the deputy, set the little girl in the car. The deputy could not see what Chambers was doing inside the car and continued to order him to the ground.

``At this point, the deputy doesn't know if the guy was going to pull a gun, turn and use the girl as a shield,'' said Rush.