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 overdose death of her 2-year-old daughter — and with allegedly smuggling a drug-filled syringe into the jail – pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
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. Seal faces two counts after a syringe containing fentanyl and methamphetamines were found in her cell. She allegedly smuggled it in the jail in body cavity.
No trial date was set. Seal returns to court May 10 for a pre-trial conference.
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. He returns to court April 18.
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.
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