Girl, 7, and Friends Eat Cocaine Found in Her School Bag
A Colombian national was facing possible child endangerment charges today after her 7-year-old daughter found a golf-ball-sized chunk of cocaine in her school backpack and shared a taste of it with eight of her classmates at a Canoga Park private school.
None of the children who ingested the drug suffered serious effects, police said, but they were all treated at a local hospital for stomachaches and are being observed in case of complications.
“It was definitely a life-threatening situation,” said Lt. Bill Gaida, West Valley Station detective commander for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Maria Christina Torres, 39, of Topanga Canyon was booked at the Van Nuys women’s jail, and was released after posting $100,000 bail within three hours, Gaida said.
Gaida said the woman’s daughter found the cocaine in a plastic sandwich bag in her backpack Monday at Canoga Park Lutheran School and sampled it before passing it around to the others, ages 7 to 11. One of the students told the principal.
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