CLEARFIELD – A Curwensville woman whose 11-month-old child overdosed in January pleaded guilty last week.
Police say the child of Amber Grace Jaeger, 29, and Raymond Matthew Nestlerode, 42, was unresponsive when emergency medical services personnel arrived at their home on Jan. 11. It was reported that the child was possibly choking.
A report from the hospital stated that the child’s urine tested positive for fentanyl, and “this infant would likely have died without medical intervention. This is a near fatality.”
Jaeger was originally charged with three counts of felony endangering the welfare of a child, but she pleaded guilty to one felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Judge Paul Cherry sentenced her to serve one month to one year, 11 months and 29 days in the county jail with two years concurrent probation, according to online court documents.
When Nestlerode was sentenced in May, the child’s grandmother addressed the court saying the abuse of their children did not begin in January.
She stated that the victim had already built up a tolerance to fentanyl because of it being present in the home.
The children’s clothes were all taken after the incident due to contamination and it took two shots of Narcan to bring the child back, she said.
She noted that the boy’s six-year-old sister saved his life when she alerted her parents there was something wrong with him. Since that time, she has needed psychiatric care, she said.
The boy now only sleeps a few hours at a time and is “terrified of the playpen,” she stated.
“Both parents are responsible,” she said, adding “they both brought this upon their children.”
Cherry sentenced Nestlerode in May to eight months to two years in state prison with five years consecutive probation for felony endangering the welfare of children.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when the child was treated at Penn Highlands Clearfield, he was given Canard, which woke him up. He was then transported to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh by helicopter.
Police were told by medical personnel at Penn Highlands that the mother, Jaeger, appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
The trooper noted in his report that she was falling asleep and “had erratic behavior consistent with a person being under the influence of drugs.”
Later that day another trooper spoke with Nestlerode at their residence and the home was searched.
Officers reportedly found 26 hypodermic needles, fentanyl test strips, a spoon with suspected drug residue, a digital scale and other drug paraphernalia.
In her interview with investigators, Jaeger said the kids were playing in the living room while she was folding clothes in the bedroom.
When Nestlerode got home, she said the boy was laying on the kitchen floor and she thought “he was napping.” She claimed she checked on him and he was fine.
Later, while she was in the bathroom, her six-year-old daughter knocked on the door saying there was something wrong with her brother. She went to the kitchen where she said her son “was blue.”
She stated that she tried to do CPR on him, “but his teeth were clinched tight and when she picked him up, he was limp.”
At this point, Nestlerode called 911, she said.
During the interview, she admitted her husband, Nestlerode, had a history of drug use and she had relapsed recently. Both had used fentanyl at some point, she said.
When the trooper checked Jaeger’s arms, he noted there were suspected needle stick marks on each arm, it is noted in the report.