LOUISA -- The father of the Louisa County toddlers who tested positive for cocaine failed a drug test a week after he was charged with child endangerment, a local prosecutor said today.

Derrick A. Christmas, 25, who lives in the Zion Crossroads area, was in Louisa General District Court this morning on a prosecution motion to revoke the bond set when he was arrested last month.

Christmas contested the results of last week's drug screening, and presented evidence that he passed a drug test that same day.

Christmas had not hired a lawyer to defend him, and Judge Edward K. Carpenter rescheduled the bond hearing for May 22.

On April 16, a relative rushed Christmas' 3-year-old and 16-month-old boys to the University of Virginia hospital because they were drowsy and behaving oddly. The boys tested positive for cocaine and a prescription sedative.

The next day, police located Christmas outside the home west of Louisa where the children lived with their mother. Authorities searched the car he was sitting in and found crack cocaine, a large amount of marijuana and $1,600 in cash, according to the Louisa County Sheriff's Office.

Christmas and the boys' mother, 26-year-old Brenda D. Quarles, were each charged with two counts of child endangerment. Christmas was also charged with two drug possession counts. The children were placed in the custody of local Social Services.

Both parents were released on bond - Christmas' totaling $12,250 for all his charges. Obeying the law was one of the conditions, said Rusty McGuire, Louisa's deputy commonwealth's attorney.

He asked Carpenter to either revoke Christmas' bond or set it higher, noting the nature of the charges against Christmas.

"The risk is too great for the defendant to remain on the street," he said. Christmas has admitted to investigators that he sells illegal drugs, McGuire told the judge.

Christmas presented the judge with results of an independent drug test he underwent soon after in which he tested negative for drugs.

-- Calvin R. Trice