1-Year-Old Overdoses On Cocaine; Parents Charged With Child Neglect

A couple in Venice, Florida, has been arrested after their 21-month-old son overdosed in January when he put a spoon with cocaine residue in his mouth.

Police arrested Kaitlyn Van Dorn and Blake Pavey, aged 33 and 34, respectively, on May 29, WWSB reported. Both were charged with child neglect without great bodily harm, but Van Dorn was also charged with probation violation on a previous charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Their charges stemmed from an incident that occurred on Jan. 8. Officers of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home in the 2100 block of Park Road in Venice to assist the county's fire department on a medical call involving an unconscious child who was not breathing, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The child was given three doses of naloxone, the medication to reverse opioid overdoses, by emergency medical services. The child quickly regained consciousness and became alert, WFLA reported.

According to an affidavit, Van Dorn initially told deputies that she and her son had gone on a neighborhood walk, and the child was collecting rocks with a teal bucket. The mother said the boy went limp after he picked up an unknown object off the ground and put it on his mouth. The woman also claimed she saw a needle cap, which she allegedly swatted away along with the unknown object.

Van Dorn told officers she allegedly took her son home and left the teal bucket behind on their route, according to the affidavit.

Police, however, did not find any of the items she mentioned on the route, the affidavit said. Video surveillance from a nearby business also did not show Van Dorn walking the route at the time she said the incident happened.

The teal bucket was found inside their home by officers.

Department of Children and Families investigators visited the family's home that night and found a pipe on a couch and a spoon inside the child's bucket. A report said the spoon tested positive for fentanyl and cocaine, while the pipe was positive for cocaine.

Police determined that the child had overdosed on cocaine months into the investigation, WFTS-TV reported. The child has not been under the care of either Van Dorn or Pavey since January.

Prior to their Saturday arrest, the pair had been arrested at the beginning of May for theft, as per WWSB.

Police from San Luis Obispo County, Califonia, made a similar arrest on three people last month over their alleged involvement in the drug-related death of an 8-month-old infant in February. Kayla Anne Luhm and Shawn Matthew Luhm, aged 31 and 38, respectively, were slapped with felony child abuse charges on May 14 over the death of their child, Lillith Luhm.

Authorities discovered the infant girl not breathing at the family's Heritage Ranch home on Feb. 4 and transported her to a children's hospital at Stanford University, where she died a few days later on Feb. 10.

Police found narcotics in the residence of the couple, who were suspected of being drug users prior to the search.

An acquaintance of the two, 36-year-old Melissa Dawn Currie, was also charged with one felony count of accessory for allegedly concealing evidence related to the child's death.