BY CALVIN R. TRICE

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

LOUISA -- General District Judge Edward K. Carpenter today certified to a grand jury a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and a count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute against 25-year-old Derrick A. Christmas.

The two felony charges taken up at today's preliminary hearing are not the only ones Christmas faces.

Because his children tested positive for drugs, Christmas is scheduled to appear in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court this month on a separate charge of child endangerment. Also charged with child endangerment is Brenda D. Quarles, 26, Christmas' girlfriend and the mother of the boys.

Detective Sgt. Howard Porter testified today that he and other deputies with the Louisa County Sheriff's Office encountered Christmas on April 17 as they were about to execute a search warrant at Quarles' home.

Christmas, whose address is listed in the Zion Crossroads area, lived off and on with Quarles at her family's house west of the town of Louisa, according to court testimony.

The couple's boys -- then 3 years old and 16 months old -- had tested positive for cocaine and a prescription sedative the night before.

Porter, testifying at today's hearing, said authorities sent to execute the warrant found Christmas in a van outside the residence. They patted him down and searched thin the van, Porter said, and found crack cocaine and marijuana.

After his arrest, Christmas said he had been dealing cocaine for more than two years, the detective testified. That morning, Christmas had purchased about 4 ounces of marijuana that he intended to sell, Porter said.

The Louisa County grand jury is scheduled to meet July 16 to decide if enough evidence exists to bring the case to trial. Contact staff writer Calvin R. Trice at ctrice@timesdispatch.com