COLVILLE, Wash. — A Stevens County woman was sentenced to six months in jail when her child killed in a house fire tested positive for meth.
45-year-old Mariah Chavez of Colville pled guilty October 9 to endangerment with a controlled substance, harassment, and domestic violence assault.
On March 17, 18-month-old Cascabel Chavez was killed in a house fire at N. Elm Street and 2nd Avenue in Colville. Mariah and her three other children were able to escape but Cascabel was found dead by firefighters who were searching the home.
While a coroner determined Cascabel’s cause of death was from the fire, a toxicology report revealed she had methamphetamine in her blood at the time of death. Colville police officers determined Mariah was criminally negligent because there was meth accessible in the home.
A few weeks after the fire on April 7, officers were dispatched to Benny’s Inn in Colville where one of Mariah’s children reported she had hit him. The family had been staying at the motel after the fire.
The child told officers Mariah had threatened to kill him and his two younger brothers because they were “a drain on her resources,” according to the affidavit.
The children were placed in protective custody and Mariah was arrested for felony harassment and assault.
On October 11, Mariah was sentenced to six months in jail followed by a year of community custody.
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