A Florida couple was arrested last week after their teenage daughter overdosed on the father’s fentanyl while she was in class.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said they were called to LA Ainger Middle School on the morning of March 10 for a student who wasn’t breathing. Deputies found a school nurse administering CPR to the girl. Deputies determined she appeared to be suffering from an overdose and gave her a dose of Narcan “which yielded positive results.”
Investigators determined the drug was fentanyl, and soon learned that “caregiver (40-year-old Joshua Sanders) … had a small container of fentanyl in the home, which the child had brought to school.”
Another “caregiver” (34-year-old Courtney Delaney) had argued with Sanders about the drug in the house “on numerous occasions.”
“The investigation revealed that the child had found the container on the bathroom sink in the residence and placed it into her backpack before heading to school,” the sheriff’s office said.
Once at school, the girl went to the bathroom “and placed a small amount (of the fentanyl powder) on her finger” and swallowed it. An affidavit, however, said that the girl snorted the powder off the toilet paper holder and “walked out of the bathroom with a white powder on her nose,” Law&Crime reported.
She also allegedly told a first responder she had seen her father doing drugs and was “curious about it.”
“The effects were near-immediate, with the student barely returning to class before losing consciousness,” the sheriff’s office said.
According to the affidavit, Delaney had thrown away bottles of Sanders’ drugs on multiple occasions but had made no effort to remove him from the home, despite his repeated use of the drugs.
According to WWSB, the girl told a deputy she didn’t remember anything until she awoke inside an ambulance.
Her parents were charged with one count of neglect of a child with great bodily harm and two counts of neglect of a child without great bodily harm, the without harm charges in connection with other children in the home, the sheriff’s office said. They do not, apparently, face any drug charges.
Delaney was given a $25,000 bond, while Sanders received a $450,000 bond.
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[Featured image: Joshua Sanders and Courtney Delaney/Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office]