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Thursday, July 14th, 2011 12:13 pm | by cadfy
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By Kimball Bennion
Published July 14, 2011
A Great Falls couple pleaded not guilty Thursday to accusations that they endangered their infant daughter when they failed to take her to the hospital after finding out the girl drank orange juice laced with methamphetamine.
Lee Edwin Haas, 29, and Angela Rose Haas, 23, entered their pleas during an arraignment hearing in Cascade County District Court. Each has been charged with felony counts of endangering the welfare of children and criminal endangerment. District Judge Julie Macek set their trials for Nov. 14.
The couple was arrested on June 14, after social workers from the Child and Family Services Division of the Department of Health and Human Services informed Great Falls Police that the couple's daughter tested positive for methamphetamine.
Court records submitted after the initial charges were filed state that social workers were called to the house for a separate investigation when Angela Haas told them she accidentally gave meth-laced orange juice to her daughter sometime in late May.
The agency tested the child and the results came back June 13. The tests showed that the infant had a high-level exposure to the drug.
In interviews with police, Angela Haas said a friend came over to their house at 802 5th Ave. S. and they began drinking orange juice. At some point during the night the infant drank some orange juice given to her by Haas. The parents later noticed the child acting strange, according to court documents.
Court documents state that the child cried throughout the night and did not go to sleep. At about 10 a.m. the following morning, the girl passed out for approximately 90 minutes, but Angela Haas told police she thought it was because the child didn't sleep the night before. It wasn't until 1 p.m. later that day that the man who had been at the Haas' house the night before stopped by and asked what happened to the bottle of orange juice he left on their table. When he saw it in the couple's garbage, he began "freaking out," according to court documents, saying that there was enough "meth bong water" in the juice to keep an adult up all night.
Prosecutors said Thursday that the adults were ingesting the drug by placing a glass pipe of meth into a liquid and letting the chemicals leach through. They would then get high by drinking the liquid.
Court documents state that Angela Haas called the emergency room after learning what the child drank, and she told staff that a friend had drank orange juice with methamphetamine in it. She did not mention that she was calling about a 1-year-old infant, according to court documents.
She told police that she already had an open case with Child and Family Services and that she was afraid her children would get taken away if she took the infant to the emergency room.
The 1-year-old girl showed signs of methamphetamine withdrawal for the next two days, according to prosecutors.
"It was by the grace of God that something didn't happen to (the infant), because I was told there was enough meth in the juice to give a full-size adult an intense high," Angela Haas said during police interviews, according to court documents.
Lee Haas also told police that he didn't know his daughter drank the drug until the next day. Court documents state that he admitted the parents made a mistake by not seeking medical attention for their daughter once they knew what she drank. Lee Haas initially told investigators that he didn't know who brought the meth-laced juice to their apartment, but he eventually gave investigators the name of the individual. That person has not been charged.
Tests of another infant in the home showed a positive result for marijuana exposure, court documents state.
Both Angela and Lee Haas have posted bail since their arrest. Conditions of their bail include not having contact with their daughter.
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