ADELANTO, Calif. >> Investigators say a Southern California mother with her 4-year-old daughter on her lap was eating methamphetamine when deputies arrived at her desert home with a search warrant.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies arrested 35-year-old Joanne Marie Lanford and 25-year-old Christopher William Breed. They were booked for investigation of methamphetamine for sale and child cruelty.

The child was placed in protective custody.

A sheriff’s spokeswoman tells the Victorville Daily Press that deputies arrived Tuesday evening at the couple’s home in Adelanto, a Mojave Desert community about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Deputies say Lanford was eating meth as her preschooler sat on her lap. It’s unclear if she was trying to destroy the evidence or taking the drugs.