A 33-year-old mother has been arrested following the 2022 death of her one-year-old son, who Winnipeg police say died of high levels of fentanyl and carfentanyl intoxication.
Romeo Stewart died suddenly in hospital in late December 2022. Investigators say he had been exposed to the drugs when he was at his mother’s home, according to a Saturday news release from police.
“It’s very alarming,” said Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Claude Chancy.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a police officer or member of the public, it’s something we never want to hear when a child — or infant in this case — has died [as] the result of being exposed to substances such as fentanyl or carfentanyl.”
The mother called 911 after the child became unresponsive at her Sherbrook Street home in the early hours of Dec. 29, 2022, police said. A family member gave the infant emergency medical care until the ambulance arrived, and Winnipeg fire-paramedics took him to hospital in critical condition once they got there.
Police said autopsy and toxicology reports show that the child died from fentanyl and carfentanyl, which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl.
The Manitoba Prosecution Service authorized charging the mother with failing to provide the necessaries of life.
On Friday, the mother — whom police did not name — went to police headquarters, where she was arrested and later released.
Charges in other infant deaths
There have been other recent cases of charges being laid against parents in a child’s death after exposure to drugs.
Earlier this month, Winnipeg police laid charges against the parents of three-month old Layla Mattern Muise, who died in February 2022 of exposure to fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Christopher Joseph Mattern, 39, and Alison Kimberly Muise, 40, were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life in connection with the girl’s death.
And in February, police charged two Winnipeg parents with manslaughter after their one-year-old daughter died from fentanyl intoxication in March 2023.
Garry Daniel Adrian Bruce, 38, Sabrina Faye Boulette, 37 have been charged in connection with that infant’s death.
Chancy said while significant time had passed in each case between the deaths and charges, “every effort needs to be made” to try to prevent similar deaths.
“There has to be education, there has to be vigilance [from] members of the public making sure that we don’t have these tragic occurrences happening like we have seen in the last few months.”
In the most recent case, Chancy said waiting for the autopsy and toxicology reports and consulting with the prosecution service contributed to the length of the investigation. Final toxicology reports were provided to police this past September, he said.
“I think the most important thing here to draw from this is that there are people that have substance abuse problems,” said Chancy.
“But the responsibility still lies in the family to protect infants and children from any harm and exposure to these substances,” he said.
“And there has to be some vigilance for family members or anyone who is around any of these substances to make sure that they are not accessible and that children, infants are not exposed to them, so that we can avoid these tragic circumstances.”