A Florida couple is accused of exposing their two children, ages 2 and 1, to fentanyl, authorities said.
According to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Jessica Marie Ceron, 36, of Dunedin, and Dexter Kenyell Evans, 38, of Port Richey, were arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of child neglect.
Deputies with the sheriff’s office were called to a home in Dunedin on June 10 after receiving a report of an unresponsive child and found a 2-year-old child struggling to breathe, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The child stopped breathing while in the hospital and staff members had to administer several doses of Narcan, WFLA-TV reported. Several medical tests were conducted, including a drug test that indicated the toddler had been exposed to fentanyl, the sheriff’s office said.
Detectives with the sheriff’s office said that a second child, a 1-year-old, was exhibiting similar symptoms several days earlier. Authorities said Ceron and Evans did not seek treatment for the child, who also tested positive for fentanyl.
The couple denied knowing how the children were exposed to the drugs, the Times reported. Ceron told deputies she had smoked molly -- a purer form of ecstasy -- three days before the 2-year-old was taken to the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies said that Ceron told them she saw Evans smoke rolled cigarettes with “white powder sprinkled inside it,” the sheriff’s office news release said.
Evans told detectives there was “spiritual warfare” going on inside the house with “evil spirits,” but did not say how the children were exposed to the drug.
Both Ceron and Evans were arrested and booked into the Pinellas County Jail.
Ceron was released after posting $5,000 bail and Evans was also released after posting $15,000 bail, online records show.