Woman, 79, jailed for 'selling marijuana' just days before she was to have hip surgery

Atlanta woman Norma Cheren, 79, was supposed to have hip surgery this week, but that's now unlikely unless she's given a day pass from jail after police say they discovered more than 9 pounds of marijuana in her home.

Cheren's arrest warrant says the septuagenarian was seen Thursday night selling more than 8 ounces of pot.

'I cant' believe that she’s over 60,' neighbor Jennifer Brown told reporters. 'Let alone that she (might be) doing that kind of stuff. This is too much.'

Atlanta Police Narcotics officers found Cheren after busting a woman with less than an ounce of marijuana in her car.
They convinced her to give up her supplier and she led them to Cheren. Cheren's southeast Atlanta home was raided and police came away with a large amount of marijuana and two metal lunch boxes filled with more than $130,000 in cash. Brown said she has seen Cheren walking down the street almost every day for much of the last 25 year.

While neighbors agreed there had been a rise in crime in recent years, none suspected Cheren of being involved.

'It just doesn't make sense,' Brown said. This is not even Cheren's first drug charge.

In 1991, she was sentenced to seven years probation for violating the state's drug possession laws. A woman who only identified herself as a 'good friend' told reporters Cheren did have a hospital stay scheduled. Cheren is being held on $25,000 bond but cannot secure a release. 'They won't let her out,' the woman said. 'She's old and can barely move.'