Parents Arrested After 1-Year-Old Lawrence Girl Exposed To Fentanyl
LAWRENCE (CBS) – The parents of a 1-year-old Lawrence girl have been arrested after she was hospitalized and tested positive for the deadly opioid fentanyl. The girl is expected to survive.
Police say the baby girl's mother brought her to Lawrence General Hospital after finding a pill in her mouth and at first, her parents tried to say the baby picked up the pill in a store.
The hospital found the dangerous drug in the baby's system.
"They say just contact with your fingers can absorb into your blood stream and kill you," said Deborah Cronan, a neighbor of the family.
The baby's parents are 27-year-old McDanner Pereyra and 27-year-old Jennifer Ouch. They now face charges of drug trafficking and illegal possession of ammunition. The two stood side by side in court.
Pereyra, shaking his head as he listened to the charges and list of drugs police found inside his home.
"In a Ziploc bag there were 17 white round tablets. They also located two white Xanax bars and inside the closet there was a white plastic bag with two prescription bottle pills," the prosecutor said in court.
Underneath the couple's mattress, police say they also discovered ammunition.
"I came home from work around eight last night and police were all here," one neighbor said.
Police say the couple's six-year-old son told them he saw his sister with a blue pill in her mouth and his mother tried to wash it out.
This after the couple allegedly told police the baby found the pill on the floor at a store.
"He indicated that he told his girlfriend to lie and say it happened at Target," the prosecutor said.
Family of both parents were in court and would only say they were upset and did not know any of this was going on.
Neighbors were sad to say this happened in their neighborhood.
"When I walk my dog, I find needles all the time," Cronan explained.
"Stuff like that is just horrible. It can't happen," another neighbor added.
The couple is being held without bail. Their two children are in the care of DCF.
Both will be back in court on February 26th.