Shopper: I Found Bag of Meth at California JCPenney's

Temecula, California – A Patch reader's shopping trip to JCPenney's took an unexpected turn when she says she stumbled upon a bag of meth.

The poster, Nettie Nettie Bobettie, took a photo of the bag and promptly pointed it out to store security. What happened next shocked her:

Walking through JC Penney at The Promenade Mall tonight and just before the exit, I see a bag of something on the floor and as I got closer, it looked like drugs (pic attached) but I couldn't be sure.

My son got a female employee who quickly grabbed the baggie off the floor (I told her not to touch it and to call the mall police) and took it behind closed doors to the Security office which happened to be three feet away. A female security officer emerged and said she identified it as meth, and proceeded to throw it in the open trash can right there inside the store, next to their office (where it could have been easily retrieved).

When I questioned them about the safety of disposing it there, they were taken aback at my concern and said "that is what the police would do". Is there really no process for the disposal of poison or for that matter, for the reporting of a found poisonous substance? I asked the woman who threw it in the trash to call the TPD and report it and let them dispose of it.

A camera would surely show how it came to be inside the store, which I would think at the very least would be of concern. Something about how this was handled doesn't seem right. What do you all think? No big deal or should a process be in place for situations like this?