Casper police on Thursday arrested a Casper couple after reports of drug use inside the home where the couple lived with their children led police to find methamphetamine and marijuana.

Phillip A. Houser, 28, and 35-year-old Lisa M. Strahl were each booked into jail on recommended charges of meth possession and marijuana possession.

Charging papers say a Casper police officer was called to the couple's home on South Beverly shortly before 2:30 p.m. Thursday to assist the Wyoming Department of Family Services, which was attempting to contact the family following a report of drug use inside the home.

Strahl greeted police at the front door, and said she had taken longer than usual to open the door because she had been sleeping. She allowed police officers to enter the home, and told DFS she had recently "fallen off the wagon" and used.

Strahl allegedly admitted to using drugs on Tuesday, and said she had continued using marijuana on a regular basis. She told police that her boyfriend, Houser, had the children at his mother's house.

In the apartment, police found a syringe in plain view. That syringe later tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, and had blue wax on it. Blue wax was also noted on the floor of the apartment.

Strahl said the wax was from her four-year-old child playing with a candle. Police also found a socket with burnt marijuana in it.

Strahl reportedly said Houser must have been the one using the syringe, as he normally injected when using methamphetamine. She claimed to only smoke methamphetamine when she used.

Police arrested Strahl and took her to jail.

Police went to another home and spoke with Houser's mother, who said Houser and the children were not staying with her. She believed her son and Strahl were using drugs again; the other day, she told police, she had gone over to the apartment and found Houser sleeping on the floor of the laundry room with a three-year-old child.

Houser's mother said she believed the couple used drugs around the children, and would take turns disappearing for multiple days, possibly staying with their drug dealer.

Houser's mother called Strahl's arrest a "blessing," according to court documents. While speaking with police, she received a phone call from Houser, and then told officers that she believed he was hiding "in the attic" of the apartment where Strahl had been arrested.

Upon returning to the apartment, police officers saw Houser exit the apartment with a child. Houser had dirt and spider webs on his face.

Houser admitted that he had been hiding in the apartment's crawl space with his daughter. He said he had not used meth since Sunday, but had smoked a marijuana blunt that morning.

Houser denied using syringes to inject methamphetamine. He said his other child was with a babysitter in Paradise Valley, which police verified.

The two children were taken into productive custody at about 5:15 p.m. Houser was arrested as well.