A Schuylkill County couple is facing reckless endangerment charges in connection with the death of their infant last year after its autopsy allegedly revealed the presence of illegal substances in the baby’s blood.
The parents reportedly say they don’t know how those substances got into their child’s system and that the baby spent the night with them in bed after a rough day likely caused by teething.
Police in Pottsville say they were called to a home on W. Market St. at about 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 15 for a reported cardiac arrest involving a five-month-old child.
At the scene, police say they met with the father of the infant, Kenneth Ortega, 35, who was holding the infant. Police say the child was warm and wet to the touch but showed no signs of life.
The child’s mother, Andrea Ortega, 32, reportedly told police she woke up at about 9:10 a.m. and the baby was still asleep in bed.
Both parents said the infant slept in bed with them from about 10 p.m. the previous night until about 9 a.m. on Oct. 15 after reporting that the child had been fussy that day likely due to teething.
EMS personnel arrived on the scene and rushed the child to Lehigh Valley Hospital-South for treatment.
At the Emergency Room, all life-saving measures were used to revive the infant but the child never recovered. According to police, Dr. Robert Tomsho noted that the infant had a temperature of 101.3 degrees at the time of death and was likely higher upon arrival at the hospital.
There were no obvious signs of injury at the hospital, police say.
Police say they conducted a search of the Ortegas’ W. Market St. home at about 1:15 p.m. and took 58 photographs. All evidence taken from that search was placed in the case file.
During a follow-up interview with their lawyer present on Dec. 2 at City Hall, Kenneth Ortega reportedly said that their child was being fussy on Oct. 14, likely due to teething. He said no medication was given to the child, just a teething device.
He reportedly said that the child was placed in a chair prior to he and his wife going to bed but at some point during the night, he brought the baby to bed with him and his wife.
Kenneth Ortega said he remembered the infant laying in bed with their face outside the covers and everything appearing to be normal.
After taking their other children to school that morning, he said he returned home and went to check on the infant and found the baby to be unresponsive. That’s when he phoned 9-1-1 and began performing CPR in the bathroom. Both he and his wife did this until police arrived, he reportedly said during that Dec. 2 interview.
In her interview, Andrea Ortega also reportedly said that the child was teething and that she administered some Orajel. She reportedly said the baby slept through the night and appeared normal when she woke up on the morning of the 15th.
Andrea Ortega said when her husband checked on the infant is when she realized something was wrong, police note from their interview.
Police say they informed the Ortegas that they were present at the child’s autopsy, which was conducted in Dauphin County. According to police, the infant had suffered broken ribs and that a blood screening revealed the presence of naloxone, benzoylecgonine, cocaine, and methyl ester.
The Dauphin County Coroner listed the cause of death as traumatic asphyxia complicated by cocaine toxicity.
After being confronted with this information, police say the Ortegas had no answer for this and denied using any of those drugs or administering them.
Pottsville Police Chief John Morrow says no illegal drugs were found at the scene during the search of the home.
Police have charged both parents with a second-degree misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, saying they were aware of the dangers of having their child sleep in the bed with them and for the infant allegedly having prohibited substances in their system at the time of death.
A preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Court Judge James Reiley in Pottsville has been scheduled for April 6.
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