SRCSO: meth arrests made, kid critical

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. (WALA) - The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office said six people are behind bars for operating a meth lab which left a child in critical condition.

"The bottom line is we have an injured child here that unfortunately has suffered a pretty bad consequence based on someone else's neglect and illegal activity," said SRCSO spokesman Rich Aloy.

On February 20, deputies investigated an incident at a residence at Pineywood Place in Milton.

Police said a drain cleaner, which is commonly used as a key ingredient for a meth lab, was left out in a sippy-cup.  Investigators said the child drank cleaner and it caused an immediate reaction.  

Deputies said the child has been hospitalized ever since. 

"We have two different circumstances, or situations, in this case," Aloy said.  "You have one which is obviously the injury to the child, and the second are charges based off of the narcotics investigation that took place."

Investigators said the child was unsupervised at the time of the incident.

Deputies say they obtained a warrant for Jonathan Wayne Glass and he was arrested without incident on February 22.

Glass is charged with:

• Cruelty towards child abuse causes great bodily harm disability
• Three counts of possession of  harmful new legend drug without prescription
•  Four counts of drug possession without prescription
• Opium or Deriv-Traffic four grams to under 30 kilograms
• Drug equipment possession and or use

The mother of the child, Victoria Lauren Cain is facing charges related to this investigation.

The following individuals are also facing serious charges related to this incident:

•  Debbie A. Harris
•  John Q. Adams
•  Ronnie E. Olson
• Justin E. Godwin

FOX10 News wanted to know more about the damage drain cleaner can do to the body, so we spoke to health officials at Sacred Heart Pensacola

Chief Medical Officer Stephanie Duggan said since drain cleaner is an alkaline (it has a higher than normal pH level), treatment has to done very carefully upon ingestion.

"You think that at the initial blush the child looks great, but the problem is with something that is alkaline, what happens is you do more tissue damage the longer the exposure is," Duggan said.  "So in this kid, if it's in the esophagus for any length of time you can corrode the tissue and actually have the esophagus break apart.  The trick is to not give the child anything by mouth, get him into the emergency department, and get him seen."

Even though the circumstances of this case is different since it has to do with an active meth lab, but Duggan said she wanted to alert the public of some recent poison control data collected in 2009.  She said half of their calls were for victims 5 years of age or under.

She says 9 percent of those cases were due to common household products.  Duggan encourages all parents to keep these toxins out of sight and out of reach for children.

Deputies said they believe they have the core of this operation behind bars, but the investigation is by no means over.

If you have any information on the incident or the meth lab, contact the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office at (850) 983-1100.