Prior Charge Dismissed Over Search Ruling : Mother in Cocaine Case Had Earlier Drug Arrest

A woman who was arrested after her 7-year-old daughter shared cocaine with schoolmates was previously charged with attempting to smuggle $146,000 in cash out of the country, drug possession and shoplifting.

Maria Christina Torres, 39, a Colombian who lives in Topanga Canyon, was arrested Monday on suspicion of child endangerment and possession of cocaine. Los Angeles police said her daughter, a second-grader at Canoga Park Lutheran School, found a golf ball-size chunk of cocaine in her backpack and passed it around to eight friends during a lunch break Monday.

None of the children knew what the drug was, and each licked or bit off a small piece, police said. Nine children were briefly hospitalized after the substance was discovered to be cocaine, but none suffered ill effects.

By Wednesday, police had not presented the case to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for the filing of charges. Because Torres was released on $100,000 bail after her arrest, authorities have until July 6 to file charges. If a suspect is held, he or she must be charged within 48 hours.

Comment Declined

Through her attorney, Richard A. Walton, Torres declined to discuss her arrest. Walton described his client as a “first-class mother” who is distraught by the arrest and separation from her daughter and a 5-year-old son, both of whom were taken into custody by juvenile authorities and placed with a relative. Torres is separated from her husband, who lives in San Diego, Walton said.

“She is obviously shattered by this whole scenario,” Walton said. “She is the most notorious mother in the country, rightly or wrongly. But I know her to be a loving mother.”

U.S. District Court records show that Torres was arrested March 18, 1985, by customs agents at Los Angeles International Airport when she attempted to take $146,000 in cash on board a flight to Canada after telling inspectors she was carrying only $3,000.

Torres was placed on five years’ probation on June 17, 1985, after pleading guilty to failing to report currency and giving a false statement to a government agency.

Two years later, Torres was arrested for possession of cocaine after police said they watched her take a package from a car under surveillance in Woodland Hills. Though police recovered more than three pounds of the drug during the arrest, the charge was dismissed last week. A judge ruled that investigators had illegally searched the car containing the cocaine before Torres arrived and took the substance from it.

Torres was next arrested Aug. 23 on suspicion of stealing $24.73 worth of cosmetics from CVS Drugstore in Panorama City, according to records in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

A security guard saw Torres put mascara, eye shadow and cuticle snippers into her purse and walk out without paying, a police report says. Torres, charged with petty theft, pleaded not guilty. That case is scheduled to go to trial July 20.

Police Search

After she was arrested at her daughter’s school, police found drug paraphernalia in Torres’ home and car, including a substance used to lessen the purity of cocaine, plastic bags and electronic beepers.

However, only half a gram of cocaine was seized. Police said that Torres had discarded a larger chunk of the drug, which she had retrieved from the school before her arrest.

Even without the chunk, police said Wednesday that the evidence they seized and Torres’ previous arrests for drug and currency violations demonstrate her involvement in narcotics activities.

“What we are going to show is her ongoing involvement in the drug trade,” said Lt. William Gaida.

Walton said Wednesday he did not know how long Torres has been in the United States. But court records indicate she may have come here nine years ago from Colombia. Police said she had homes in Glendale and Van Nuys before moving to Topanga Canyon last year.

Times Staff Writer Patricia Klein Lerner contributed to this report.