A 13-year-old Mexican girl has been arrested for attempting to poison her adoptive mother, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies said in a just released report.
On August 14, deputies responded to the home of Janet Tinoco, 50, the adoptive mother of Michel Pollard, 13 years.
Tinoco told detectives that she recently learned that Pollard, whom she had adopted from Mexico, was placing insecticide in her food. She told deputies that at various times, bug spray, that “kills on contact”, was put on her food when it was left in the kitchen. Tinoco said that her adopted daughter began so in early 2009 and this continued through April 2010.
The adopted mother, Tinoco said that over the past year her health had deteriorated and she learned recently from doctors that traces of arsenic were found in her blood. Pollard later confessed during a therapy to putting insecticide in Tinoco’s food.
Pollard, who attends Good Shepherd Catholic School and is in 7th grade, was placed in a secure juvenile facility on August 13.
See Incident Report Here.
While Tinoco initially did not want to press charges, Pollard was subsequently arrested.
Tinoco said tests were being done on her other two children to determine whether or not they too were poisoned.
First of all, she is Mexican-American. If she were a Caucasian adoptee, would her nationality have been pointed out?
Any particular reason the author delineates the child as “adopted” and continually qualifies her status within this family with adoption? Would it be specified if she was biologically raised? Or do we only mention the adoption status of children when it ties into deviant behavior because it plays into that lovely stereotype that adoptees are sociopathic by nature?
Wow, it sounds like someone has some personal issues with this story. The fact that she is adopted is extremely relevant. From what I’ve read, she was adopted at age 8. Not sharing this information would promote sensationalism because it would be all the more shocking if someone were to poison their biological mother. The fact that she has only lived with this woman for 5 years is relevant. The fact that she is from Mexico is also relevant, since apparently her adoption involved culural change as well as a change in family. I agree that the media does tend to over-emphasize nationality and race, but by shying away from the facts to avoid stepping on someone’s toes, we lose access to relevant information.
This story hits very close to home.. I can tell you it takes years of abuse to make a child react this way. And we weren’t adopted.
Let me just put this out there, not everything is as it truly reads in this story, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet or in a news paper. 2nd she was a minor when this occurred so it shouldn’t be out as people can be cruel years later. Only God can judge a person for all