Dad gets 2 years in prison for letting 17-month-old daughter ingest meth (Buford, Georgia)

Dad HERIBERTO BENITEZ-PEREZ will be doing 2 years in prison for allowing his 17-month-old daughter to ingest liquid methamphetamine that was left in a home kitchen last January. The child survived, but was in critical condition when hospitalized.

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7/22/2009 12:01:00 AM

Man faces jail time in infant meth case
By Josh Green
Staff Writer

BUFORD - A Buford man will spend the next two years in a Georgia prison for allowing his infant daughter to ingest liquid methamphetamine in his kitchen earlier this year.

Heriberto Benitez-Perez, 28, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of cruelty to children in the second degree, possession of methamphetamine and reckless conduct stemming from his January arrest. The poisoning of the child was not intentional.

Superior Court Judge Melodie Snell Conner sentenced Benitez-Perez to 10 years in prison, with the first two in confinement. He'll serve the balance of the sentence on probation, if he's not deported first, said Kim Gallant, Assistant District Attorney.

Federal immigration authorities have placed a hold on Benitez-Perez that's not expected to interfere with his prison sentence.

Special conditions will apply to whatever probation Benitez-Perez serves. They include drug and alcohol evaluations and treatment, random screens and parenting classes, Gallant said.

In a statement Monday, Benitez-Perez tried to exonerate his sole co-defendant - the child's mother - by claiming she knew nothing of the drugs in the home. Prosecutors have yet to decide if they'll pursue charges against the victim's mother, Gallant said.

At the time, police said the 17-month-old girl got her hands on and drank from a container used to hold liquid meth in the kitchen of her father's Arbor Grove home.

The baby's parents raced her to Gwinnett Medical Center when she started having seizures. Toxicology tests confirmed the drug, a blend of mostly household chemicals, was in the child's bloodstream.

The baby was admitted in critical condition but has since recovered, Gallant said. It was unclear Tuesday who has custody of the child.