Faheem Jones (Photo courtesy Outagamie County Sheriff's Office)
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — An alleged drug dealer arrested in connection with the overdose death of a 2-year-old in Freedom pleaded not guilty Monday.
Faheem Jones, 42, faces seven counts, including possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and recklessly endangering safety. No trial date was set. Jones returns to court Nov. 6 for a status conference.
The child, Rosalie Garcia, was found not breathing Jan. 6 at an apartment in Freedom. Officials say she died as the result of a fentanyl overdose.
The girl’s mother, Brooke Seal, is charged with neglecting a child, consequence is death. A Dec. 2 trial is scheduled.
Seal was arrested after toxicology reports determined Garcia died from exposure to fentanyl. It is unknown how the child accessed or ingested the drugs.
“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.
According to a criminal complaint, Seal allegedly allowed a drug dealer, Faheem Jones, to temporarily stay at her Freedom apartment.
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.
Jones was charged as part of the investigation, but he has not been charged in direct connection with Garcia’s death.
The complaint describes Seal’s 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.”
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.
Comments