California Woman Busted In Missouri Allegedly Turned Teenage Girl Into Meth Mule
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - A California woman was accused of turning a teenage girl into a drug mule.
The pair were spotted thousands of miles from home by a Missouri Highway Patrol officer, who pulled them over.
"There was some odor of marijuana, so there was some criminal activity occurring, but the trooper knew that there was a much, much bigger case involved," said Sgt. Andrew Bell.
Court records said the driver, 22-year-old Brenda Alcaraz of Kern County, had a 15-year old girl with her and the teenager had no identification. Sgt. Bell said the two couldn't get their story straight about how they knew each other.
"Come to find out she had been exploited if you will to transport illegal methamphetamine from the west coast to the east coast," said Bell.
For several days, the teen was forced to wear bandages strapping 5.5 pounds of meth to her rib cage. The drugs were worth about $130,000.
"She thinks she is going to gain something of value, money, for doing these services, which she has no idea what it could lead to--something extremely dangerous. She could potentially lose her life," said Bell.
Now the teen is back home with her family in Oregon and Alcaraz is facing felony drug and child endangerment charges.