Mother takes plea after toddler ingests meth

The mother whose 21-month-old son became sick after ingesting methamphetamine will serve 75 days in jail.

The defendant, Helen D. Bonner, 38, has entered a no-contest plea before General Sessions Judge Larry Ross to the charge of misdemeanor child abuse and was ordered to serve 75 days of an 11-month, 29-day sentence. She must also undergo an alcohol and drug assessment and attend parenting classes.

The charges were brought after the child was taken to River Park Hospital last month on the recommendation of his baby-sitter, who called Bonner and told her the toddler was sick. The boy was then taken by his mother to the emergency room where tests were conducted to determine why he was ill.

It was during a drug scan that doctors found the presence of meth in the boy?s system, something investigators believe was causing his sudden sickness. It is suspected the boy may have accidentally touched some meth residue in the home and then placed his fingers in his mouth, thereby ingesting the drug.

Bonner was tied to the incident when doctors also found meth in her system. Investigators say, given the child?s symptoms, he likely ingested the drug just before he became ill.

Bonner reportedly claimed contamination from a meth lab allegedly found in the home over two years ago could have caused the positive test. However, lawmen say this claim is impossible because post-cooking contamination would not show up as meth, but instead would register as other byproducts.

While structures can permanently be contaminated by meth byproducts, even making residents ill years later, such secondary contamination would not reportedly show up as meth.

The potential of passing meth in the system from mother to child by birth has also been ruled out since the child is almost 2. The mother has reportedly denied any knowledge of how the drugs got into her child?s system even though a no-contest plea works the same as a guilty plea in the eyes of the law.