A 12-year-old Hull girl busted her own mother for smoking pot because she was afraid her mom would become a drug addict, police said. Donna Cumminsky, 40, and her live in boyfriend Nicholas Papas, 57, were arrested friday after the girl showed police where they hid their marijuana, police said. "I applaud her efforts," said Hull Police Capt. Donald DiMarzio.
"She was obviously upset to have to resort to such an extreme, but she felt she did what she had to do." Cumminsky's daughter, Georgette, told a 12-year-old pal she was frightened because her mother Papas were smoking pot in their Hull apartment. The unidentified friend called police, who paid a visit to Cumminsky and Papas' basement apartment on Porazzo Road a little before 9 p.m. The couple invited the officers into the living room but denied using marijuana. At that point, the popular sixth-grader came into the room, told them "not to lie," and opened a drawer in the coffee table to reveal a plastic bag of pot, DiMarzio said. The couple then admitted the marijuana was theirs and that they smoked it recreationally, DiMarzio said. They were arrested, booked for possession and held at the station house until they were bailed out at 10:30 p.m. Georgette sat alone in the police station for three hours while police tried to track down a relative to take her in. Georgette apparently took her studies in last year's Drug Abuse Resistance Education seriously, said DiMarzio. "The DARE program teaches kids about the effects of drugs," he said. "She didn't want these effects carrying through to the mother." Michael Landolfi, principal of Memorial Intermediate School, said his students are normally urged to talk to a guidance counselor or teacher rather than report family members to the police. "There are other ways than getting the police involved. The DARE cops are not here to portray a Gestapo type of operation," Landolfi said.
Landolfi said the girl is popular with both students and teachers and has never mentioned any problems to school administrators. "Everybody likes her. She seems well adjusted," Landolfi said. Cumminsky and Papas pleaded innocent in Hingham District Court Monday. Georgette's older sister, Lisa, who answered the door yesterday, said the family would have no comment on the case.