Woman Accused Of Buying Drugs With Teen Released

A Riverside County judge agreed with defense attorneys on Friday and released a 44-year-old Desert Hot Springs woman.

Suzanne Mowery faces three counts of child abuse stemming from allegations she helped a teenager buy heroin on July 4 and smoked it with her.

The next morning, 16-year-old Megan Escalante was found dead.

Police had reported the teen took a methadone pill before going to bed that night.

She was found in a home on the 2900 block of Escoba Road in Desert Hot Springs.

Mowery was arrested two weeks after Escalante’s death, and admitted to police she was a recovering drug addict who had recently relapsed. She also admitted that she and Escalante often took drugs together.

As a condition of the release, the Riverside County judge ordered her to a rehabilitation facility, and also ordered her not to have contact with any of the victim’s family.