A Long Island father was indicted for assault and other charges Monday after his infant son nearly died after overdosing on fentanyl earlier this year.
The father’s alleged drug dealer, Robert Mauro, was also hit with manslaughter charges after the same batch ingested by the 11-month-old kid killed an adult woman days later, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney.
First responders were called to the family’s Lake Grove home on Jan. 13 for a report of a non-responsive infant and arrived to find the child had turned blue with his eyes rolled to the back of his head and was barely breathing, the prosecutor said.
Dramatic bodycam footage shows paramedics with Suffolk police and the Ronkonkoma fire department tending to the child in a bedroom alongside the boy’s mother who said he was having trouble breathing for about 25 to 30 minutes.
The mom said in the clip that her son was fine when she gave him his bottle earlier that morning. She said she then left the child with his father on the couch downstairs while she went back to sleep upstairs and that her husband started to fall asleep but awoke to find the boy’s body had gone limp.
The medics gave the child oxygen on a bed before transferring him to an ambulance, where they continued life-saving measures, the footage released by the DA shows.
While en route to Stony Brook University Hospital, the baby had stopped breathing and had been unresponsive for about 40 minutes.
The ambulance pulled over to pick up a member of the Suffolk Police’s Medical Crisis Action Team (MEDCAT) for further assistance.
The medics determined the boy may be suffering from an overdose and the MEDCAT officer pulled out Narcan while the child’s mother remarked “This is a nightmare. Do you think it’s drugs?” the video from the back of the ambulance shows.
The cop gave the infant the overdose reversal drug in each nostril and five minutes later, the little boy took his first full breath on his own and let out a cry.
“There we go,” one of the medics exclaims as the child’s mother weeps tears of relief, the bodycam footage shows.
Once they reached the hospital, the baby was diagnosed with acute fentanyl poisoning, hypoxia, and respiratory failure. He was given additional doses of Narcan inside the pediatric emergency room before he was placed on a Narcan drip in the pediatric ICU to prevent him from going back into respiratory failure.
Investigators searched the boy’s home and allegedly found a straw containing cocaine, 4-ANPP, heroin, and fentanyl residue, a digital scale containing cocaine, heroin and fentanyl residue, and a plastic bag containing cocaine residue, the district attorney said.
The baby boy’s 35-year-old father — who was not named to protect the child’s identity — was arrested the same day and released without bail, as he was not facing a bail-eligible charge under state law.
“It is heartbreaking to see a defenseless and innocent child become yet another casualty of a deadly
illegal drug. What is more outrageous is that the child’s father is alleged to have placed his own
son in close proximity to such poison,” District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement.
Cops searched his phone and found messages between him and Mauro, 39, discussing a drug deal.
Mauro allegedly sold drugs to the dad on Jan. 9, four days before the 11-month-old ingested the fentanyl.
After the baby nearly died, Mauro allegedly sold the narcotics from the same batch to a 31-year-old woman in Patchogue on Jan. 26 and 28 — with the promise that they did not contain any fentanyl aka a “non-fenty” mix.
But the drugs contained several strains of fentanyl and the woman fatally overdosed on Jan. 29, the prosecutor said.
The woman’s phone records showed that she had allegedly purchased the narcotics from Mauro and an autopsy concluded that she died as a result of a mixed drug intoxication with fentanyl, fluro fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, methoxyacytal fentanyl, xylazine, and buprenorphine found in her system.
Cops searched Mauro’s home the next month — during which he tried to conceal evidence by chucking a digital scale and dose of fentanyl/4-ANPP out of his bedroom window into the snow.
Both were recovered by investigations as well as suboxone pills and his phone, which contained texts between him and the woman who died on the day she overdosed, according to the district attorney.
Mauro was indicted for a slew of charges including second-degree manslaughter, criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence, and criminal use of drug paraphernalia. He is due back in court on May 14.
The baby’s father, meanwhile, was indicted for second-degree assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child. He is due back in court on May 16.
