Man, his grandmother charged in toddler’s drug poisoning
A Schuylkill County grandmother and her 19-year-old grandson face multiple charges in a case that stemmed from the drug poisoning of her 9-month-old grandson in April 2023, according to West Penn Township police.
Lisa Ann Searfoss, 60, and Anthony Cannon, both of New Ringgold, were charged Monday, according to police.
Searfoss is charged with two felony counts of endangering welfare of children, and two misdemeanor counts of giving false statements to police.
Cannon is charged with a felony count of aggravated assault of a person under 13 years old, and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
According to a criminal complaint West Penn Township police filed in Schuylkill County court, the child was taken on April 7, 2023, to St. Luke’s Hospital for seizure-like symptoms.
A report by St. Luke’s Pediatrics’ said the child suffered from seizures from exposure to methamphetamine in his system.
According to the criminal complaint, Luzerne County Children and Youth sent a letter on March 23, 2023 to Lisa and Marvin Searfoss, who at the time had custody of the 9-month-old boy who is the child of Kristi Edmonds.
The letter stated that Edmonds could only have supervised visits twice a week with her son at the Children and Youth offices. The letter also said that a court order stated that the child could not have unsupervised visits with his mother and that grandmother Lisa Searfoss could not supervise meetings between Edmonds and her son.
Police interviewed Searfoss, Cannon and Edmonds as to how the child was exposed to methamphetamine.
After being told several different stories, police say that Edmonds and her son, Anthony Cannon, were getting high in Searfoss’ basement, touching the methamphetamine and handling the baby.
Police say that secondhand smoke from the drug and direct contact with the methamphetamine caused the toddler to get sick.
Police say that Searfoss gave several different accounts of the incident, including that Edmonds was not at the home.