RIFLE, Colo. — A mother and her two cousins waited several hours to get help despite knowing that a five-year-old girl drank water tainted with methamphetamine and then began "twitching" and reported seeing monsters and demons, an arrest warrant from the Rifle Police Department (RPD)for the girl's mother says.
Sophia Larson died in December as a result of methamphetamine intoxication, according to the Garfield County coroner.
Stephanie Alvarado was arrested in late January and was initially charged in Garfield County with suspicion of child abuse resulting in death, possession of a controlled substance and reckless endangerment in the death of her daughter Sophia Larson.
Prosecutors say the charges were upgraded Wednesday to the following according to Steve Mallory, chief deputy district attorney for Garfield County:
- 1st-degree murder -- extreme indifference
- 1st-degree murder -- victim under 12, person in a position of trust
- Child abuse knowingly or recklessly causing death
- Possession of controlled substance
- Tampering with physical evidence
On Dec. 11, 2019, officers with RPD were called to an apartment in the 3000 block of Coal Mine Avenue because there was a child in some sort of medical distress.
Before they arrived Sophia stopped breathing, so Stephanie Larson and her cousin Bertha Karina Ceballos-Romo drove to the hospital, the arrest warrant says. Stephanie Larson drove while Ceballos-Romo gave CPR in the car, according to the document.
Sophia Larson died at the hospital and according to the coroner had a "very very high" amount of methamphetamine in her blood, the arrest warrant says.
Her mother, Stephanie Larson, spoke with investigators and said she began using meth about two months ago but was not sure how it got in the water bottle because "she only smokes it," according to the warrant.
She said earlier in the day that she went with her cousins Bertha Karina Ceballos-Romo and Daniel Bello Alvarado to pick up Sofia in Glenwood Springs, and later in the evening, they all went back to her Rifle home to celebrate Daniel Bello Alavarado's birthday.
Daniel Bello Alvarado said, according to the warrant, they were all using meth earlier in the day when Sophia was not around.
Stephanie Larson said she put her daughter to bed around 10:30 p.m. and gave her some water from a plastic bottle that had a little bit left in it, the warrant says.
Sophia drank from the bottle and "had a disgusted look on her face" and "tried to spit it out", the warrant says.
Her mother told police she smelled the bottle and "it smelled like methamphetamine or chemicals," according to the warrant. She threw the bottle away, gave her daughter fresh water from another bottle and then put her back to bed, the warrant says.
A little while later, Sophia suddenly woke up and became "very energetic" the warrant says. According to the warrant, all three cousins recovered the water bottle from the trash and smelled it. All three believed it "smelled like meth bong water," the warrant says.
Stephanie Larson said she wanted to call for her father for help, but that her cousins Ceballos-Romo and Daniel Bello Alvarado told her to "calm down," the warrant says.
Daniel Bello Alvarado told Stephanie Alvarado "he had been through it before with his sister's kid taking methamphetamine", the warrant says. He told Stephanie Alvarado, "they did not need to call for help" because his sister's child "was jumping off the walls" from meth and they "just waited for the high to go away," according to the warrant.
He also said, according to the warrant that he and Ceballos-Romo "had experience with two of their cousins consuming meth when they were three and five years old and they were fine."
At one point in the evening, Ceballos-Romo said she asked Stephanie Alvarado if she wanted to take Sophia to a doctor, the warrant says. Stephanie Alvarado responded no, according to the warrant, "because she did not want to lose her to the system."
Later, Ceballos-Romo told investigators she would clean her meth pipe by pouring water into it and then covering the holes and shaking the water around, the warrant says. Most of the time she said she would then dump the water out into the sink, but she admitted she "sometimes would pour the water into a water bottle or Gatorade bottle," the warrant says.
Bertha Karina Ceballos-Romo who is facing charges of:
- Child abuse resulting in death
- Tampering with evidence
- Possession of controlled substance – Methamphetamine
- Reckless endangerment
Daniel Bello Alvarado who is facing charges of:
- Child abuse resulting in death
- Possession of controlled substance – Methamphetamine
- Reckless endangerment.
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