A Florida teenage mother is charged with aggravated manslaughter and possession of a controlled substance after it was discovered that she laced her 9-month-old infant’s baby bottle with fentanyl before putting him down for sleep, authorities say.
According to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper, deputies responded to a call Monday when the baby was found not breathing and without a pulse. Deputies attempted to revive the baby but were unsuccessful so they transported him to a local Jacksonville hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Originally, the mother said she didn’t know what happened. She put the baby to sleep and just couldn’t wake him up,” Leeper said.
He further added that the 17-year-old mother “changed her story several times” but eventually “confessed” that she gave her baby fentanyl because she was tired and wanted to nap. She then proceeded to fill the baby’s bottle with what “she thought was cocaine.”
But investigators later discovered that the substance was fentanyl, an opioid, according to the sheriff.
An autopsy report revealed that the baby had 10 times a fatal dose in his bloodstream and the medical examiner’s office has ruled his cause of death as a fentanyl overdose.
Leeper says the suspect’s child’s death was due to culpable negligence and “utter disregard” for his safety.
“The suspect consciously did an act she must have known, or reasonably should have known, was likely to cause of the death, or great bodily injury, of her child,” Leeper said.
This story is developing. The Florida Department of Children and Families is investigating.
The news comes after Shine My Crown reported that a Georgia woman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and child cruelty after investigators found she allowed her 21-month-old son to consume cocaine and fentanyl in June.
According to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Gloria Neshee Stringer, 31, was present at the residence where deputies were called to respond to a report of the cardiac arrest of her son Jamari Stringer.
Upon arrival, the victim was found unresponsive and rushed to a local hospital where doctors attempted to revive him. He was then taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta where the child was pronounced dead. The toddler’s body was then taken to the Dekalb County Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy revealed that the child was killed, according to the medical examiner. His death has been ruled a homicide.
