Local News in Brief : Mother Charged in Drug-School Incident

A Topanga Canyon woman, accused of placing a golf ball-sized chunk of cocaine in her 7-year-old daughter’s backpack, was charged Wednesday with possession of cocaine for sale and felony child-endangering.

Maria Christina Torres, 39, a Colombian citizen, is scheduled for arraignment July 6 in Van Nuys Municipal Court, said Christine A. Thurman, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

Torres was arrested June 13 by Los Angeles police after her daughter brought the cocaine to Canoga Park Lutheran School, where nine of her classmates tasted it, thinking it was candy or sugar.

Torres retrieved most of the drug before school officials realized what it was and called police, but school administrators found a half-gram piece that had been discarded on the playground by one of the students, authorities said.

Torres was arrested when she came to the school to pick up her daughter. Police said they found materials in Torres’ car used to process and package cocaine.

None of the children were harmed. The felony child-endangerment charge was filed because Torres’ daughter could have suffered death or serious injury had she ingested the cocaine, Thurman said.

If convicted, Torres could receive a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said.

Torres, who originally was freed on $100,000 bail, was arrested again on June 16 and ordered held without bail for an alleged probation violation in an earlier federal case involving failure to report currency taken out of the country.

She is being held at Sybil Brand Institute.