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Racine police say a 48-year-old man was sold cocaine to a police informant on several occasions in the bathroom next to a multi-purpose pre-school room.

James Ballentine, of Racine, was charged Wednesday in Racine County Circuit Court with four felony James Ballentinecounts of cocaine possession with the intent to deliver near a youth center and one misdemeanor count of marijuana possession. If convicted, he faces up to 50 years in prison and/or up to $101,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, officers set up controlled cocaine buys from Ballentine using a confidential informant on Feb. 15, Feb, 27 and April 4. The Feb. 15 and April 4 transactions took place in the bathroom next to a pre-school multi-purpose room at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center.

Police say their informant told them Ballentine retrieved the packets of cocaine from under a sink in the bathroom before exchanging it for money.

A search of Ballentine’s home on April 12 turned up quantities of marijuana hidden inside a child’s snowsuit, the complaint reads, and a subsequent search of the bathroom at the King Center yielded a packet of cocaine hidden under a sink.

Ballentine remains in the Racine County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond. He will next be in court April 21 for his preliminary hearing.