MEGAN ESCALANTE - 16 yo - (2010) Palm Springs CA

Palm Springs police say 44-year old Suzanne Mowery used minors,
including a 16-year old girl who died on July 5th, to obtain and or use
controlled substances. Detectives initially suspected the teen had
passed away from a drug overdose, and were able to determine "that the
16-year old did, in fact, ingest controlled substances while under the
care of Mowery," reported Sgt. Melissa Desmarais.According to a
media release, Palm Springs Police detectives submitted a case against
Mowery to the Riverside County District Attorney's office on July 16th.
An arrest warrant was eventually obtained for Mowery, and she was taken
into custody. Mowery, of Desert Hot Springs, is currently being held at
the Banning jail on $500,000 bond on charges of child abuse, and use of a
minor to violate controlled substance laws. The teenager, whose
name was never released, was found dead in a unit of an apartment on the
2900 block of Escoba Drive on July 5th.

A 44-year-old woman charged with child abuse in the overdose death of a
16-year-old girl in Palm Springs allegedly drove the teen to purchase
heroin and used the drug with the teen on the night of her death,
according to court records.
Suzanne Mowery of Desert Hot Springs faces three felony counts each
of child abuse and giving a minor a controlled substance in the July 5
death of Megan Escalante at her father's apartment in the 2925 Escoba
Road in Palm Springs.Mowery
was arrested Friday and is tentatively set to be arraigned today.In an interview with
police, the 44-year-old woman took some of the responsibility for the
teen's death, but said she did not believe it was all her fault,
according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant.Mowery drove the girl
to a friend's home to buy some drugs, and the teen returned to the car
with a $60 baggie of heroin, said Palm Springs Police Det. Mike
Villegas, who prepared the declaration.The woman, who was taking care of her 4-year-old
daughter, smoked the heroin with the 16-year-old and a 17-year-old
while watching Fourth of July fireworks with the girls, the detective
wrote.“Mowery
went on to say that she was pressured into smoking the heroin by
Escalante,” Villegas wrote, adding that the group took as much as three
hits of the drug.The
16-year-old then took a methadone pill before going to bed and was
found dead the next morning, Villegas said.Mowery told detectives she had been in rehab at the
Betty Ford Center in April but had recently relapsed, according to the
declaration.The
woman said she and Escalante would purchase a painkiller, oxycodone,
and other prescription pills, taking turns as to who would pay,
Villegas said.“Most
recently, Escalante was buying the pills because Mowery had no money,”
Villegas wrote, adding that the woman admitted she drove the teen to
purchase pills because the girl did not have a car.During the interview, Mowery was found to be in
possession of methadone, Xanax and morphine pills without a
prescription, according to Villegas.Mowery is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at the
Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

Woman Accused Of Buying Drugs With Teen Released44-Year-Old Suzanne Mowery Released From Jail
By Erik Sandoval, iReporter and Digital Content Director
POSTED: 3:38 pm PDT August 20, 2010
AAAText SizePrintEmailUPDATED: 4:56 pm PDT August 28, 2010

Riverside County Sheriff's Dept.
Suzanne Mowery
INDIO -- A Riverside County judge agreed with defense attorneys on Friday and released a 44-year-old Desert Hot Springs woman.

Suzanne Mowery faces three counts of child abuse stemming from allegations she helped a teenager buy heroin on July 4 and smoked it with her.

The next morning, 16-year-old Megan Escalante was found dead.

Police had reported the teen took a methadone pill before going to bed that night.

She was found in a home on the 2900 block of Escoba Road in Desert Hot Springs.

Mowery was arrested two weeks after Escalante's death, and admitted to police she was a recovering drug addict who had recently relapsed. She also admitted that she and Escalante often took drugs together.

As a condition of the release, the Riverside County judge ordered her to a rehabilitation facility, and also ordered her not to have contact with any of the victim's family

So, from what I read~ Charges are dropped in favor of rehab?
Moving to RESOLVED-Other