A Missouri woman has been charged after giving her 14-year-old daughter a fentanyl pill when she complained of a toothache.
Jacquelyn Powers, 35, was arrested on Thursday for the October 3 death of the teenage girl, reported Fox 2.
Overland Police said Powers gave her daughter a pill she found in a drawer, then 10 hours later the child was found dead.
She told police she believed the pill was an oxycodone from her own previous surgery, court documents state.
However, an autopsy report showed the girl died of a fentanyl overdose with no oxycodone in her system.
‘This is tragic. This shouldn’t happen. She’s 14, she had a lot of years to look forward to, ‘ Overland Police Department Capt. Jim Morgan said.
Powers admitted to police that she had traded some of her oxycodone with her mother in exchange for pills her mom bought on the street to ‘protect her.’
According to court documents, she said she also kept those pills in a drawer.
The local news station captured Powers’ arrest outside her home on Echo Lane almost a month after her daughters death.
Powers wore tan pants and a black sweatshirt with the hood covering her head as police escorted her to their vehicles.
She has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and felony death of a child.
Powers is being held on $150,000 bond and has her next court hearing scheduled for November 19.
In California, the mother of twin toddlers is facing murder charges after her three-year-old sons died from alleged exposure of drugs laced with fentanyl.
Jestice James, 22, was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of child abuse after her twins – Josiah and Jestine- were found unresponsive at their home in Canoga Park on July 11.
The three-year-old twins were unresponsive when paramedics arrived at the apartment where James was with her boyfriend and her family.
The boys were rushed to a nearby hospital, but family members said it was too late. Josiah, the older of the twins, died later that night, while Jestine died two days later.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told DailyMail.com James’ case is the first in Los Angeles County where a parent has been charged with deaths related to alleged fentanyl overdose, which is becoming a ‘disturbing trend’.
‘Children are our most vulnerable,’ Hatami said. ‘They don’t buy fentanyl and they don’t smoke it. Adults are doing that but it is the innocent children who are paying the ultimate price. It’s unacceptable.
‘When it comes to fentanyl exposure, we need to do everything we can to protect the innocent children.’