Parents whose toddler chewed on opioids are charged
UPPER DARBY >> The parents of a 16-month-old boy, who was near death from an opioid overdose and revived by Narcan administered in a hospital emergency room, have been charged in connection with the incident.
Nora Boyle, 35, and her boyfriend, Gregory Searl, 42, both of the 7700 block of West Chester Pike, are charged with felony endangering welfare of children, and misdemeanor reckless endangerment and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to the probable cause affidavit for their arrests, when the parents arrived at Delaware County Memorial Hospital with their son about 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, the child was not breathing.
“Both Searl and Boyle explained to the staff that the child had gotten into heroin wrappers from the trash can and is overdosing,” the document states. After the child was given 0.4 milligrams of Narcan intramuscularly, he regained consciousness and his breathing. Township Officer Thomas Hald, who had responded to the hospital after receiving a report of a child being exposed to heroin, concluded the child was suffering from an opioid intoxication/overdose.
Hald, who is also a registered nurse, spoke with the child’s father. Searl told him that he is an opioid user and last used five bags of fentanyl about 6 p.m. on Sunday, the affidavit states.
In a subsequent written statement, Searl said he arrived home from work on Monday, about 4:30 p.m., to find his son on the floor. As he picked him up, he saw a “chewed up drug bag on the floor under him,” the affidavit states. Searl said the bag “looked like a heroin bag because it was blue.”
When Searl put his son on the bed, he noticed his son start to close his eyes, the affidavit states. Searl and Boyle then took him to the hospital.
At the hospital, Boyle told police she fell asleep in her bedroom while the toddler was watching television. She said Searl came home and discovered the boy with a fentanyl bag in his mouth, the affidavit states.
Boyle further told police there were several used fentanyl packets in the bedroom trash can.
During a search of the family home, police recovered one blue wax paper packet, two chewed blue wax paper packets commonly used to package heroin/ fentanyl, inside a trash can in the couple’s bedroom. Also, a Newport cigarette pack containing 10 blue wax paper packets commonly used to package heroin/ fentanyl was located on the bedroom dresser, according to the affidavit.
In a follow-up statement to police on Tuesday, Boyle said she and Searl “had used heroin recently and the used heroin/fentanyl packets were inside a trash can in the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend, and her son, the affidavit states.
She further stated that the heroin/fentanyl packet the child was chewing on was taken from the trash in their bedroom.
Both Boyle and Searl are being held at the county prison in lieu of posting bail, which was set at $75,000 cash for Boyle and 10 percent of $50,000 for Searl, according to online court records. Both are listed to appear on Feb. 20 for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Anne Beradocco.
It was not immediately known if either Boyle or Searl had retained an attorney.
The child was transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Children and Youth Services of Delaware County are involved in the investigation.