Children Found in Makeshift Blood Lab; Mother Arrested

A 28-year-old mother of four has been arrested on suspicion of child endangerment after police found her children playing barefoot among discarded dirty needles and vials of blood strewn across a bedroom in her Long Beach home, police said Thursday.

Kosal Nang was arrested Wednesday afternoon after it was discovered that she had used her 2-bedroom house for what police said was an illegal blood clinic, offering youths $30 for their blood, said Long Beach police spokeswoman Karen Owens.

“She had four kids inside the [home] that were running around barefoot, and there were needles and blood vials in the area where the kids were,” Owens said.

Nang’s three daughters and one son, who range in age from 7 to 11, remained at home Wednesday night with their father, Owens said. He was not at home at the time of the raid and police believe he is not involved in soliciting blood, she said.

Police stumbled across the makeshift blood lab after receiving a call that a group of teenagers and young adults had congregated at Nang’s home in the 1000 block of Orange Avenue and were acting suspiciously, Owens said.

When officers arrived, several youths ran from the home. Inside, police found Nang, her children and mother, plus three teenagers and one 20-year-old who had sold their blood, she said.

The lab’s paraphernalia was scattered about one of the bedrooms where the children played, Owens said. On the bed and strewn across the floor were clean and used needles, some uncapped. Sealed glass vials full of blood were in bags on the floor. Around the room were clean and bloody cotton balls, she said.

Workers from the Long Beach Health Department removed 142 vials of blood along with syringes and other sharp, possibly contaminated objects, said Diana Bonta, the department’s director.

Investigators are still trying to determine why Nang was buying blood and what she was going to do with it.

Bonta said she is aware of two cases of youngsters being offered money for blood at illegal home-site clinics since summer. Police have been investigating the cases and have conducted a number of surveillance operations at suspected addresses, Owens said. But such labs are highly mobile, and, until Wednesday, have largely thwarted police.

Nang is scheduled to be arraigned today.