A one-year-old baby girl is dead and her two-year-old brother is in critical condition after drowning in a swimming pool, the Daily Mail reported.
An illegal pot-growing operation took place at a mobile home in San Diego, Calif., and the children's mother, who has not yet been identified, is accused of not calling 911.
She and Larry D'Angelo instead allegedly brought the kids to a nearby fire station. She told firefighters that she had been asleep when the children drowned, and woke up to find them unconscious in the swimming pool.
D'Angelo soon fled the scene on foot. The children were rushed to the hospital, but the one-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival, her brother was transferred to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. Initially the mother had told investigators that the children had drowned at a community swimming pool, but later admitted she had lied and that the incident had actually occured at a friend's home where pot was being grown illegally in the basement.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the two children were pulled unconscious from the backyard swimming pool, and authorities said their mother and her friend, D'Angelo, had not realized that they had fallen into the pool in the east San Diego neighborhood, as the two had been taking a nap indoors at the time.
The mother explained that she did not want to get her friend in trouble, according to Lt. Glenn Giannantonio. Narcotics detectives were summoned after the marijuana was discovered, he said. The Narcotics Task Force uncovered the illegal operation.
"She said she initially gave the wrong location because she didn't want her friend who lives at the residence to get in trouble for not having a fence around the pool," Lt Glenn Giannantonio said to CBS8.
D'Angelo was later found and arrested "on felony charges of growing marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, attempted manufacture of a controlled substance, and grand theft," and is currently being held at $50,000 bond.
Authorities do not believe foul play is suspected in the drowning.
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