Woman Seized on Cocaine Charge After Daughter Takes It to Teacher

A North Hollywood woman was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale after her 8-year-old daughter grew “suspicious” of a white powder she found at home and brought it to school to show a teacher, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Carmen Garcia, 31, was arrested Thursday, Lt. Bud Harper said. Garcia’s daughter earlier that day had taken the drug to her school, which Harper refused to identify.

School officials notified police, who verified that the substance was cocaine, searched the woman’s home and found about 14 grams of the drug, Harper said. Detectives arrested Garcia near the school as she arrived to pick up her daughter, he said.

The girl apparently was suspicious as well as curious about the drug she brought to school Thursday morning, Harper said. “She just probably felt it was something that shouldn’t be there and presented it to her teacher,” Harper said. “She was suspicious, obviously, or she wouldn’t have brought it in.”

It was the second such incident in the San Fernando Valley this year. Maria Christina Torres of Topanga Canyon was sentenced to three years in prison after her 7-year-old daughter found a chunk of cocaine the size of a golf ball in her backpack and shared it with classmates.

Garcia was being held at Van Nuys Women’s Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail, police said. The daughter was put in the custody of her father, who lives elsewhere, Harper said.

Harper said he did not disclose the name of the school to protect the child’s identity. “It’s a tough thing for the little kid,” the lieutenant said.

Harper said only that the girl attends a public school near her home. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said no such incident was reported to school district police or to the regional district office for the area.