CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN BERNARDINO : Mother Gets 2 Years for Pawning Baby

A teen-age mother who used her 7-month-old baby as collateral to buy drugs was ordered to serve two years in prison despite pleas that the sentence could endanger her life. Superior Court Judge Betty Richli disregarded assertions by Brenda Haralson that jail inmates threatened to kill her because of the nature of her crime. At the same hearing, Linda Reibling, 39, of Redlands was sentenced to four years in prison for accepting the child in exchange for $50 to $100 worth of methamphetamines and abandoning the infant in a public park restroom. Richli rejected arguments that Haralson should be spared punishment because she has a low IQ.