Day care shut down after 2-year-old sickened by marijuana

A La Crescenta day-care facility was shut down and its director was arrested Wednesday after a 2-year-old girl being supervising there was hospitalized for being under the influence of marijuana, police said.

Roubena Hartounian, 50, was taken into custody on suspicion of child neglect and endangerment at her residential day-care center, Bina’s Family Child Care, which city officials closed after they discovered it had no power and there were rat droppings scattered inside, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

“The conditions of the home warranted a criminal investigation,” he told the Glendale News Press.

Police reportedly turned away eight families who tried dropping off their children at Hartounian’s day care in the 3200 block of Orange Avenue, he added.

The girl’s parents dropped her off at the day care early Tuesday and picked her up that evening only to discover she was lethargic, he said.

Hours later, the child’s condition wasn’t improving so they took her to Verdugo Hills Hospital.

About midnight, police responded to the hospital, where doctors confirmed that the child tested positive for THC, an active ingredient of marijuana, Lorenz said. The parents, of Montrose, told police they believed their daughter “consumed” marijuana at the day-care home, he added.

The child later was transported to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for monitoring.

Rocha is a staff writer for Times Community News.

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