Boy, 9, Poisoned by Cocaine in School : Classmate Allegedly Obtained Drug From Mother’s Boyfriend

A fourth-grade student brought a bag of rock cocaine, allegedly provided by his mother’s boyfriend, to his classroom at a Central Los Angeles elementary school Monday and, while the teacher was distracted, at least one child ingested some of the substance and later suffered convulsions, authorities said.

Several others pupils were examined by doctors, but none of them appeared to have ingested the drug, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said.

A team of school district doctors and nurses were sent to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, 3989 S. Hobart Blvd., after the school’s nurse reported shortly before noon that several youngsters had “come into contact” with a suspicious, powdery substance.

The substance was later officially identified as “rocks,” a crystallized form of cocaine, and several youngsters were kept under close observation for possible narcotics poisoning.

School district spokeswoman Eva Hain said only one child, a 9-year-old boy who ingested some of the drug, appeared to have suffered ill effects. This child, she said, was hospitalized for a time after going into convulsions, but was later released.

Los Angeles police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said the cocaine was brought to class by a 9-year-old boy who told investigators he had been given the drug over the weekend by his mother’s live-in boyfriend.

Boy Was Asked to ‘Hide’ Drugs

Booth said the boyfriend had asked the youngster to hide a “baggie” containing about 20 “rocks”--with a street value of about $500--for him until he asked for it. Booth said the boy apparently “hid” the drug in his knapsack and brought it to school Monday.

Booth said it was his understanding that the baggie fell out of the boy’s knapsack and was picked up by the other children in the classroom.

But school Principal L. M. Jenkins said she was told that the boy was sitting at a classroom table with 10 other students, and passed the bag around while the teacher was occupied at a different table.

As the children passed it from hand to hand, she said, the bag evidently was opened and at least one child “sampled” the substance. None of the other children appeared to have swallowed any of the drug, school district officials said.

Jenkins said the teacher confiscated the bag as soon as she noticed what was happening, and notified the school nurse.

Hain said the boy who had swallowed the cocaine was turned over to his parents with the suggestion that they take him to their own physician. But instead, Hain said, the parents apparently took him home--where he went into convulsions.

City paramedics were called to the home and took the child to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was treated for a cocaine overdose and later released in good condition.

Several other children were taken to hospitals after initial examination by school doctors, but all were subsequently released, police said.

School board President Rita Walters said she was “horrified” when informed of the incident, adding that the school board has asked the district security force for a complete report.

“I think it’s just awful,” she said, “that someone would . . . give something like that to a small boy. And of course I’m very glad that the little boy who ingested the drug is going to be OK. All the same, we want to know how it happened, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Booth said the boyfriend, Rory Heidelberg, 22, who lived with the mother and child in the 1700 block of West 46th Street, was arrested and held in lieu of $5,000 bail after being booked on suspicion of furnishing narcotics to a minor.

Southwest Division police said they questioned the boy’s mother, but she was not arrested. The boy was placed in the custody of juvenile authorities as an endangered child, officers said.