Cocaine Suspect Gets Probation for Shoplifting
A Topanga Canyon woman facing trial for placing a golf ball-sized chunk of cocaine in her daughter’s backpack was sentenced Friday to 30 days in County Jail for stealing $24 worth of cosmetics from a Panorama City store.
Maria Christina Torres, 39, a Colombian national, was convicted by a Van Nuys Municipal Court jury Tuesday of one count of misdemeanor petty theft stemming from an Aug. 23 incident at a CVS Drugstore.
Torres, scheduled to go on trial in November for possession of cocaine for sale and felony child-endangering, was also sentenced by Judge Michael B. Harwin to two years probation in the shoplifting case, Deputy City Atty. Ryan Sally King said.
Banned From Store
In addition, Harwin ordered Torres to stay away from the drugstore, King added.
Torres was arrested in June after her 7-year-old daughter brought the cocaine to Canoga Park Lutheran School, where nine of her classmates sampled it, thinking it was candy.
Torres went to the school and retrieved a large chunk of the cocaine, discarding it before police were called. However, school administrators found a smaller piece of the drug that had been discarded on the playground by a student.
Torres is also accused of probation violation in an earlier federal case involving failure to report currency taken out of the country.
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