Illegal fentanyl is safely handled and contained.
Law enforcement officials in Lehigh County have charged the parents of a 22-month-old boy after the toddler died from fentanyl toxicity more than three years ago in Allentown.
Jorge Suarez-Santiago, 32, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Jayleen Rivas-Rodriguez, 35, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, have both been charged with murder and warrants have been issued for their arrests.
Officials said the incident unfolded on April 5, 2021, when police were called to an Allentown hospital after a 22-month-old boy, named Johansy Suarez-Rivas was reported not breathing.
The child was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
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Investigators said Johansy died from fentanyl toxicity and the amount of fentanyl in his heart blood was measured at 16.5 nanograms per millimeter. His death was initially ruled accidental by the Lehigh County Coroner.
During the investigation however, officials determined the child's parents, Suarez-Santiago and Rivas-Rodriguez, had used heroin in the hours before their son had died.
Suarez-Santiago was alone with his son while Rivas-Rodriguez left their apartment on the 100 block of North 8th Street in Allentown for several hours, investigators said.
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Rivas-Rodriguez allegedly left their son with Suarez-Santiago despite knowing Suarez-Santiago was visibly intoxicated. Police said Rivas-Rodriguez had given Suarez-Santiago heroin prior to leaving their son in his care that day.
Rivas-Rodriguez then discovered their son unresponsive after she returned home, according to investigators.
"The investigation revealed that Johansy was exposed to and ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl while in the
care of his parents who both consciously disregarded the high risk that their reckless use and handling of
illegal narcotics was likely to cause death or serious bodily injury to their child," a spokesperson for the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office wrote.
Rivas-Rodriguez is being represented by the Lehigh County Public Defenders Office, according to online court records. NBC10 reached out to the office for a statement on the charges against her.
Online records do not list an attorney for Suarez-Santiago who could speak on his behalf.
