GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — After an 18-month-old child apparently found illicit drugs while his parents were napping and died of fentanyl poisoning, the parents have been charged with child neglect resulting in death.
Tyana Putzlocker, 22, made an initial court appearance Friday, where a $10,000 cash bond was set. She returns to court Wednesday.
Derrick Young, 23, also was in court Friday, where a $25,000 cash bond was set. He returns to court July 18.
Police responded to an apartment on South Taylor Street on May 3, where the child was unresponsive, and later died. According to the autopsy, the “presence of illicit fentanyl in the decedent’s system is a contributing factor to the cause of death.”
Young told police the child appeared sick, and all three laid down to take a nap together. He woke to find the boy wasn’t breathing. CPR was started, and 911 was called.
After her arrest, Putzlocker said she had no knowledge of how either she or Young could exposed the child to fentanyl, and denied selling drugs containing fentanyl.
“She maintained a theory that her son could have unknowingly found a dangerous drug while he was with her doing laundry in the basement that day,” the complaint quotes her as saying.
Young’s story was different, however.
“Derrick admitted to using and being addicted to fentanyl and also admitted to selling fentanyl. Derrick was using and selling fentanyl at the time of his son’s death. Derrick and Tyana typically smoked fentanyl in the apartment basement but would sometimes smoke in the apartment bathroom. Derrick said he kept fentanyl pills in the apartment closet and if his son got exposed to fentanyl, there was no other explanation other than it being his pills,” the complaint states. “Derrick also admitted that at the time of VICTIM 1’s death, he was thinking that VICTIM 1 might have gotten one of his fentanyl pills.”
The investigation determined Young was dealing drugs.
“Based on my training and experience, reviewing communications between Young and Putzlocker, showed communications consistent with Young being actively involved in the distribution of controlled substances, including but not limited to narcotics such as black market Percocet pills that are known to contain fentanyl, and Putzlocker was both fully aware and at times, participated in that activity. This included discussion of such pills even on the date of VICTIM 1’s death,” the complaint says.
The dead child had been removed from Putzlocker’s direct care due to concern for neglect and being drug-endangered, according to the complaint.
If convicted of the child neglect resulting in death count, the maximum sentence would be 25 years in the prison system.
Young was charged in November with maintaining a drug trafficking place and drug possession. An arraignment was scheduled for Friday morning in that case, but details of the hearing were not immediately available.
For that incident, police searched a different residence:
“The report showed both the decedent and his brother were both located on the bed in Young’s basement bedroom at the time of the search warrant execution. During the search, members of the Brown County DTF found two pistols on the floor in the same bedroom. Also in the same bedroom, in a bag on the floor, narcotics investigators found nine (9) bags containing 100 pills each, described as Oxycodone Hydrochloride. Also found in the same bedroom was described as chunky material that tested positive for cocaine,” the complaint states.
One investigator said “if either the decedent or his brother would have moved off of the bed, they would have had access to the pistols and bags of pills in the bags on the floor field tests were taken of samples of the pills located in the bedroom which indicated the presence of Fentanyl,” according to the complaint.
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