Officials have charged the parents of a four-year-old boy after he overdosed on fentanyl on his birthday in November at a home in Golf Manor, Ohio.
Authorities found and apprehended 39-year-old Denard Bishop on Thursday while the child’s mother, identified as 34-year-old Alexis Scarborough, was arrested days before, Fox 19 reported Friday.
Video footage shows the woman in court and a WLWT report said when the incident happened she was visiting her son, of whom she does not have custody:
The two adults now face charges of endangering children, the Fox 19 article said. The outlet detailed the case:
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center reported the Nov. 25 incident at Denard’s Golf Manor home as “child abuse,” according to their criminal complaints.
The boy was found “(agonal) breathing” during his nap, police wrote in another court record, an affidavit.
Agonal breathing is a near-death condition when someone who is not getting enough oxygen is gasping for air, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Scarborough has since pleaded not guilty in the case. A judge refused her lawyer’s request to release her on her own recognizance so she could go to work as a hotel housekeeper.
She was also told not to have any contact with her children without permission to do so. Bond for the woman was set at $10,000.
Meanwhile, “Officers say back in November Bishop neglected to care for the four-year-old little boy while that child’s mother was visiting,” WLWT reported Friday:
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) described fentanyl as a potent synthetic opioid approved for pain relief and anesthetic.
“It is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic,” the agency said.
However, “Overdose can cause stupor, changes in pupil size, clammy skin, cyanosis, coma, and respiratory failure leading to death. The presence of a triad of symptoms such as coma, pinpoint pupils, and respiratory depression strongly suggests opioid intoxication,” its website read.
On Thursday, country star and rapper Jelly Roll gave his testimony before a Senate committee hearing about the devastating effects the fentanyl crisis has had on Americans, Breitbart News reported.
He relayed his life and problems with drugs that resulted in prison sentences. Now, he is an advocate for victims of drug traffickers.
Watch the video here:
He said approximately 190 die from fentanyl abuse on a daily basis, a number that is the equivalent of a 737 airplane at full capacity.
“Could you imagine the national media attention it would get if they were reporting that a plane was crashing every single day and killing 190 people?” he asked.
“But because it’s 190 drug addicts, we don’t feel that way, because America has been known to bully and shame drug addicts instead of dealing and trying to understand what the actual root of the problem is,” he told senators.
