A grandmother is accused of having her 9-year-old granddaughter take a bag of cocaine to school and say it belonged to her dad so that she could win full-time custody of the girl.
Police in Gilbert, Arizona say 58-year-old SanJuanita "Janie" Carbajal was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of child abuse.
The woman apparently lost custody of her granddaughter -- who she had raised since birth -- over the summer.
According to police, Carbajal gave the girl packets containing 4 grams of cocaine. She asked her to plant them in her dad's car and also to show the packets to a teacher at school.
Police say Carbajal wanted to get the girl's dad in trouble so that she could win custody back from him.
But the 9-year-old revealed her grandmother's intentions after breaking down as she was questioned by police.
From jail, Carbajal told FOX 10 that the accusations were not true. "I would not do that," she said.
Carbajal, who is facing a child abuse count, said she believes the girl's father forced her to make false accusations against Carbajal.
She said she doesn't blame the child.
"I love you, you know how much Mima loves you," she told FOX 10. "I understand why you said what you said."
Certainly this isn't the first custody battle we've written about that involved grandparents. A few years back, a custody war made headlines as two families fought to end a five-year dispute that began shortly after a boy named Sean Goldman was taken by his mother on vacation to Brazil in 2004 and never returned. After the mother died, the boy's stepfather and maternal grandparents fought the American father for the boy to stay in Brazil.