Friday, May 22, 2009

Melissa Huckaby To Face New Poisoning Charges


A Tracy woman accused of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu is facing additional charges when she returns to court this afternoon.

In an amended complaint filed late Thursday afternoon, Melissa Huckaby, 28, was also charged with one count of child endangerment and two counts of furnishing someone a harmful substance.

If convicted of murder, Huckaby could face the death penalty.

Two of the new charges stem from a Jan. 17 incident, when a woman in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park where Huckaby and Sandra also lived, claimed Huckaby took her 7-year-old child without her or her family's permission.

Lora Polk, 41, said when the child was returned about two hours later, she was acting strange and was taken to the hospital, where doctor's tested her and reportedly found she had muscle relaxers in her system.

Huckaby is also accused of giving an unspecified drug to a man named Daniel Plowman on or about March 2. On March 3 Plowman was apparently arrested by Tracy police on suspicion of driving under the influence, but he was never charged with a crime.

According to the complaint against Huckaby, in both cases, Huckaby ``willfully and unlawfully mingled a harmful substance with food or drink'' with the intent it be taken by a human.

Judge Linda Loftus has issued a gag order in the case preventing anyone involved from commenting.

Huckaby is scheduled to appear in San Joaquin Superior Court in Stockton at 1 p.m. today.

Sandra Cantu's body was found in a black suitcase in an irrigation pond near Whitehall Road on April 6. A few days later, Huckaby told a members of the media that she had a similar suitcase stolen from her driveway on March 27, the day Sandra disappeared.

Huckaby was arrested April 10 and is being held without bail in San Joaquin County Jail. According to court documents filed by her ex-husband in Orange County, she tried to kill herself by swallowing three razor blades shortly after Sandra Cantu's body was found.

source

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