Kid Charged with Trying to Poison Teacher
CALIFORNIA --- On Friday, May 14th, detectives from St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations, a joint investigation team composed of the Maryland State Police and St. Mary's Sheriff's deputies, report that they responded to Esperanza Middle School located in California, Maryland.

A teacher, identified as Bernice Ann Burch, was identified to be a victim of assault committed by a 13 year-old male student.

The police report their investigation revealed that on May 13th, 2004 the student intentionally sprayed an ammonia based cleaning solvent onto the food belonging to Mrs. Burch while she was out of the room.

The teacher ate the food and later reported she experienced a shortness of breath for a period of time. Contact was made with the Poison Control Center and the appropriate steps were taken to ensure her welfare. The student was charged with Assault 2nd Degree on May 17th, 2004 and released to his parents pending his appearance before the Juvenile Court for St. Mary's County, Maryland.