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A middle school student lost consciousness at school after overdosing on fentanyl in the school bathroom, authorities said
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Child found drugs at home and brought them to school, authorities say
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Her caregiver was arrested and faces felony charges after overdose, according to authorities
A Florida couple faces criminal charges after a teen they cared for brought fentanyl she found on a bathroom sink to school, overdosed and nearly died.
The near-fatal incident occurred on the morning of Tuesday, March 10, when deputies responded to a call from Los Angeles Ainger Middle School in Rotunda West that a student was not breathing, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
When officers arrived, they found the school nurse performing CPR on the unconscious student.
It was quickly determined that the student may have overdosed, and deputies administered a dose of a narcotic “with a positive outcome,” the statement said.
She was then taken to a local hospital. Deputies eventually learned the substance the student overdosed on was fentanyl, according to the statement.
During the ensuing investigation, detectives learned the teen’s caregiver, Joshua Lee Sanders, 40, of Punta Gorda, had a small can of fentanyl at home and the child brought it to school, the statement said.
Detectives learned that Sanders and another caregiver, Courtney Delaney, 34, of Englewood, “had argued on multiple occasions prior to this incident regarding the presence of lethal drugs in the house,” the statement said.
On the day of the alleged overdose, the child found the container on the bathroom sink of the home where she was living, put it in her backpack and headed to school.
At school, she took the container to the classroom bathroom and applied a small amount of the liquid to her fingers and then her tongue.
“The impact was almost immediate, with students barely returning to class before losing consciousness,” the statement said.
That same day, Sanders and Delaney were arrested on suspicion of drug overdose.
Sanders and Delaney were each arrested on one count of child neglect resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of child neglect without serious bodily injury due to other children in the home.
Bail was set at $450,000 for Sanders and $25,000 for Delaney. The student’s relationship to them is unclear.
The children’s aunt, Brandy Sanders, told Gulf Coast News that her 12-year-old niece is “doing fine” and is being monitored at a behavioral center.
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“Had it not been for the quick action of the school nurse, other staff, and my deputies, the outcome could have been very different,” Sheriff Bill Plummel said in a statement. “It is inexcusable and inexcusable that this child was so easily exposed to this poison, which is why these arrests were made.”
It was unclear whether Sanders and Delaney have retained attorneys who could speak on their behalf.
Read the original article on People
