Woman arrested after granddaughter, 2, ingests meth-laced tea

A woman was arrested near Hemet on Monday after authorities said she put methamphetamine in her tea, which was later ingested by her 2-year-old granddaughter.

Cynthia Ann Watson, 51, of Aloha, Ore., was booked at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and was being held in lieu of $35,000 bail, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. The toddler is expected to make a full recovery, KTLA reported.

The Sheriff’s Department said deputies responded about 10 a.m. to the 31000 block of Pine Street in Garner Valley in the San Bernardino National Forest, where the child’s mother told officers that the girl would not fall asleep after being put to bed the previous evening.

The girl “was talking rapidly, scratching her skin, could not sit still and was very agitated,” the Sheriff’s Department said.

Thinking there might be a medical issue, officials said, the mother took the girl to a local hospital, where the child tested positive for methamphetamine in her system.

Watson, who was staying at the Pine Street address with the family, had made a cup of tea the night before and placed methamphetamine in the drink to get herself high, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The cup containing the drug-laced drink was left unattended on a counter and the toddler consumed some of its contents, authorities said.

Watson was taken into custody on suspicion of felony child endangerment and possession of methamphetamine. She is expected to appear in court Wednesday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, records showed.