3-year-old boy sips drain cleaner at meth lab

Milton, Florida (PNJ) -- The parents of a 3-year-old Panhandle boy have been arrested after he drank drain cleaner stored in a sippy cup at an apartment where deputies say methamphetamine was being produced.

Following the February 20 incident, the boy is still in critical condition at Sacred Heart Hospital, according to Assistant State Attorney James Parker.

"At first, there were concerns about whether he would survive, but I think he has stabilized to the point where they are not concerned so much about that," Parker said. "Right now, they are treating the injuries, burns from the chemicals that went down (his throat)."

Photos: Meth before and after mug shots

The child's father, Jonathan Wayne Glass, 36, of the 2300 block of Sherry Lane in Cantonment, and his mother, Victoria Lauren Cain, 27, who lives in the Pineywoods Place apartments on Swanner Road in Milton, were arrested on multiple child endangerment and drug charges.

Santa Rosa County sheriff's investigators believe several people were at the Pineywoods unit making meth, a process which commonly requires lye or a drain cleaner of some type that is very caustic.

Parker said Glass was "the primary one involved with the meth lab" and brought the drain cleaner to the apartment.

Glass told officers he was using the chemical to unclog a drain, Parker said.

He also told officers he used the sippy cup - a child's beverage container that uses a top with a small spout or straw - to transport the chemical after borrowing it from someone else.

The child - whose name has not been released - was unsupervised when he drank the chemical in the bathroom. He suffered an immediate reaction.

Others who were at the apartment and have been arrested on felony drug charges are Debbie A. Harris, 43, John Q. Adams, 45, and Justin E. Godwin, 30, all of Pace. Ronnie E. Olson, 39, was also charged, but his address was not available.