A Southwest Florida couple was arrested after their teen daughter overdosed on fentanyl allegedly belonging to her father while she was attending her middle school, authorities said.
According to Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Joshua Lee Sanders, 40, of Punta Gorda, and Courtney Marie Delaney, 34, of Englewood, were arrested on March 10.
Each was arrested on three charges of child neglect, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. One of the charges was child neglect with bodily harm, while the other two were child neglect without bodily harm, online records show.
The sheriff’s office said that deputies were called to L.A. Ainger Middle School in unincorporated Charlotte County at about 9:20 a.m. ET on March 10 after the teen was found unresponsive on the floor of a classroom, WWSB reported.
As the school nurse performed CPR, a deputy administered a dose of Narcan nasal spray, “which yielded positive results,” the sheriff’s office said. The victim was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
According to the sheriff’s office, detectives learned that Sanders and Delaney had argued about fentanyl being in the house before Tuesday’s incident “on numerous occasions.”
The teen allegedly told a deputy that she had seen her father use drugs and was curious, WWSB reported. She told authorities she found a bottle labeled “FENT” in her bathroom that she took to school, according to the television station.
“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.
Students told school staff members that the teen told them that she snorted a white powder off the toilet paper holder in the bathroom stall at the middle school, WINK reported.
Field tests confirmed the presence of fentanyl in the bottle and on a toilet paper holder.
The student “placed a small amount on her finger and then onto her tongue,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The effects were near-immediate, with the student barely returning to class before losing consciousness, the news release stated.
“It’s a surprise, but unfortunately, not that much of one,” Jeff Dillon, the director of community alliances for the Englewood Community Coalition and Creative Arts, told the television station. “The need for substance uses and misuse education has been growing on a daily basis, and the range, the age range for young people, is increasing.
“It used to be, we used to think that teens perhaps were a problem demographic, but now it goes all the way from kindergarten all the way up through high school.”
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Plummer said in a statement that he was glad the teen would make a full recovery.
“This could have ended very, very differently if not for the fast actions taken by the school nurse and other staff, as well as my deputies” he said. “It is inexcusable and unforgivable that this child was able to access this poison so easily, and that’s why these arrests were made.
“I thank God that we were able to intervene before something even worse happened.”
Sanders bond was set at $450,000 and he remains in the Charlotte County Jail. Delaney was released on March 12 after posting $25,000 bond, online booking records show.
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