A Cole County woman is facing multiple child endangerment charges after a plastic bag with methamphetamine was found at her mother's babysitting business.
Abigail Connell, 18, is charged with three counts of first-degree child endangerment and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
Connell's mother, Shelley Richter, told police Saturday she had found a clear plastic bag containing a crystal-like substance at her residence in the 6000 block of Helias Drive, where Richter operates a babysitting service. The substance was meth, authorities said.
Richter also told authorities she had recently had a drug test done on her daughter, and it came back positive for meth.
The home has an interior video surveillance system, and authorities viewed a video from Friday morning, which showed the family dog was carrying the bag containing the meth in its mouth. The dog dropped the bag on the living room floor.
A 1-year-old male child was also seen on the video handling the package, then tossing it behind him. There were two other juveniles - ages 1 and 3 - playing near the male child.
Police said Connell admitted the meth was hers and said she used it to help her deal with "issues." She later changed her story, saying she was going to give the drugs back to her source because she was trying to get clean.
Connell said she had overdosed on meth twice in the past and said she had been using the drug for about a year.
Last March, Richter was found guilty by a jury in endangering the welfare of a child for an incident in August 2010 while babysitting a then 7-month-old boy who suffered severe head injuries. Richter has been out on bond while her conviction and five-year prison sentence are appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals.