Toddler rushed to hospital after ingesting meth

SMYRNA, Ga. — Police say a couple was running a small illegal drug operation out of a Smyrna hotel room when a 1-year-old got a hold of meth.

The toddler had to be rushed to the hospital from the hotel on South Cobb Drive.

The child's mother and her boyfriend are now in jail.

Police rolled up to the hotel off Interstate 285 after getting a call from a children's hospital in Atlanta where doctors were working on a  1-year-old girl who had somehow ingested drugs.

"Preliminarily, yes, the hospital indicated to us that the child was exposed to methamphetamine," said Louis Defense of the Smyrna Police Department.

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The young child's mother, Shantonia Heard, told police in Atlanta she was with her two young children and her boyfriend at a Smyrna hotel when the child had gotten a hold of a Styrofoam cup with a crystal-like substance in it.

When police arrived they found the woman’s boyfriend, Lorenzo Harris, trying to leave. He told police the meth had been left over from the room's prior tenant.

Police found more drugs in the room. They also found around $9,000 in cash on Harris and in his pickup three guns, including an AK-47.

Investigators said the prior tenant story didn't add up, and Harris had already been convicted on felony drug charges. He was arrested.

Heard’s 1-year-old girl and 3-year-old son have been placed in protective custody.

Police believe this was a close call with a young victim.

"Very dangerous. Given in light of all the different false pharmaceuticals that are out now, people overdosing, this could have been very tragic," Defense said.

Authorities believe the 1-year-old will be all right. Heard and Harris have been jailed without bond.

Cox Media Group