Girl Sees Mom Freebasing, Sneaks Out and Calls 911

Saying she feared for her family’s safety, a 10-year-old Reseda girl climbed out a window and called police from a nearby pay telephone to report that her mother was freebasing cocaine, authorities said today.

The girl, who was not identified, called the police emergency 911 line about 7:30 p.m. Monday, saying she knew that the drug was dangerous and was “just afraid,” police said.

The girl gave police the address of her older sister’s house in the 18200 block of Saticoy Street where she allegedly saw her mother smoking the drug. The girl said she was calling secretly so her mother would not know who turned her in, police said.

After making the call, the girl returned to the house. When police arrived, the girl told officers that her mother had fled out the back door carrying a dresser drawer containing cocaine and freebasing equipment, police said.

The girl showed officers where her mother had hidden the drawer behind the house, according to police.

The mother, Barbara Jean Cortez, 46, was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine. She was taken to Van Nuys Jail, where she was being held this morning on $2,500 bail. Her husband, Ernest Cortez, 55, and her son-in-law, Jeffrey Smith, 27, also of Reseda, who were inside the house, were booked on suspicion of misdemeanor child endangering and were released on their own recognizance, police said.

The 10-year-old girl and the couple’s 5-year-old grandson were placed in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services. Another 3-year-old boy at the house was released to the custody of a relative, police said.

It was at least the third time in California that a child has informed on her parents for drug use since a highly publicized case last August, when Deanna Young, a 13-year-old Tustin girl, returned from a lecture on the dangers of drugs at a church Bible meeting and called police to turn her parents in for using cocaine.