Brooke Seal enters an Outagamie County courtroom Feb. 13, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A woman charged in connection with the drug overdose death of her 2-year-old daughter faces new charges for allegedly smuggling a drug-filled syringe into the Outagamie County Jail.
Brooke Seal faces one count of neglecting a child – causing death for the death of Rosalie Garcia. Seal allegedly allowed a drug dealer to stay at her town of Freedom apartment. A preliminary hearing on that count was postponed Tuesday, as Seal has a new attorney. A new date has not been set.
Two new counts were filed Tuesday: possess illegal article by an inmate, and possession of narcotic drugs in certain places.
After her arrest for the child’s death, she was taken to the Outagamie County Jail on Jan. 31. On Feb. 5, the sheriff’s department began investigating an incident from the previous weekend, where a syringe was found in a holding cell. The material inside tested positive for fentanyl and methamphetamines, according to the criminal complaint.
Surveillance video captured Seal “reaching down behind the cell toilet, in the same location the syringe was later located,” the complaint states.
During the investigation, officials reviewed the body scans from when she was booked into the jail, and one done as part of the investigation.
“The image was granular and difficult to identify, however comparing the two images made it appear there was a difference between her first scan and a subsequent scan, which makes it appear a syringe could have been introduced into the jail in Seal’s body cavity,” the complaint states.
Outagamie County Sheriff’s Capt. David Steffens says the department reviewed the incident and determined that, due to where the syringe was found and the poor quality of the image, proper protocols were followed by staff.
Steffens underscored the essential collaboration needed by law enforcement, public health, and community organizations to combat the challenges posed by the opioid crisis.
For the original charge, the complaint describes the offense as “through her failure to take action, for reasons other than poverty, did negligently fail to provide protection from exposure to the distribution or manufacture of controlled substances… so as to seriously endanger the physical, mental, or emotional health of the child, and the child suffered death as a consequence.”
Previously, the alleged dealer, Faheem Jones, was charged with five counts, including fentanyl possession, as part of the investigation. He has not been charged in direct connection with Garcia’s death, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to the apartment Jan. 6. Garcia was taken to the hospital, where she died.
“Toxicology reports showed that the child died from exposure to fentanyl,” the complaint states.
“It was an amount that would be significant enough to kill an adult human,” Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said at a previous court hearing.
Seal told police that Jones was temporarily living at the apartment, and she confirmed he was a drug dealer.
Jones told police he was at the building to do laundry. In the laundry room, police found a backpack with a stolen gun, ammunition, and a plastic bag with 1,414 pills which tested positive for fentanyl.
According to the complaint:
Based on the evidence located at the scene it is clear that the defendant exposed the child to Fentanyl in her bedroom and in other places in her apartment. A GooStick brand metal tray, along with three pieces of burnt foil, and dark colored plastic pen tube, which is melted on the end and contains a dark residue was located on a small stand to the left of the defendant’s bed, where the child was sleeping. This item is consistent with the type of item commonly used to smoke, or freebase, a narcotic drug. A dark colored plastic pen tube, which is melted on the end and contains a dark residue was located in a wooden bowl next to the kitchen sink. This item is consistent with the type of item commonly used to smoke, or freebase, a narcotic drug.
Seal’s phone also contained messages showing she was trying to buy fentanyl from Jones less than 10 hours before Garcia died, according to the complaint.
Search warrants executed after the child’s death also discovered drugs in her apartment, Steffens noted.
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