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Authorities in Florida apprehended a couple last week after their teenage daughter experienced a fentanyl overdose during school hours, attributed to her father’s supply of the drug.
According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, emergency services were dispatched to LA Ainger Middle School on March 10 after reports of a student in respiratory distress. Upon arrival, they witnessed the school nurse performing CPR on the girl. The deputies administered Narcan, an opioid antidote, which successfully revived her.
Further investigation identified the substance as fentanyl. It was soon discovered that the girl’s father, 40-year-old Joshua Sanders, kept a small container of the drug at home, which she had taken to school.
Meanwhile, 34-year-old Courtney Delaney, also a caregiver, had frequently clashed with Sanders about the presence of the dangerous substance in their home.
The sheriff’s office reported that the investigation found the girl had picked up the fentanyl container from the bathroom sink and placed it in her backpack before leaving for school.
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.