Poca, West Virginia — A 1-year-old girl is recovering after authorities say she was exposed to fentanyl inside her own home, while her parents allegedly lied to investigators and recruited a neighbor to monitor police activity outside their apartment.
Charles Turley, 33, and Brittany Jeffers, 31, are both now behind bars at the Western Regional Jail and Correctional Facility, each held on $50,000 bonds. Both face charges of child neglect resulting in injury.
The incident began Tuesday evening around 7:30 p.m. when the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department received an emergency call regarding an apartment on Sargent Square in Poca. When paramedics arrived, they found the infant with bluish skin, blotchy marks across her back, pinpoint pupils, and an unresponsive state. She was making a snoring noise, raising immediate alarm among first responders.
Medical personnel administered Narcan, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, and the child responded. She was rushed to a nearby hospital and later listed in stable condition. Toxicology results confirmed she had tested positive for fentanyl.
When investigators questioned the parents, Turley and Jeffers reportedly claimed they had been at a nearby park playing basketball when they noticed their daughter with a plastic baggie in her mouth. They stated they returned home and found her behaving strangely before calling 911.
However, the account quickly fell apart. Surveillance footage from the park showed no sign of either parent during the claimed timeframe, and witnesses said none of the three family members were seen leaving the apartment.
A neighbor then approached deputies with a troubling disclosure — Jeffers had called roughly two hours after law enforcement arrived, asking whether police were still present and requesting the neighbor listen in on investigators’ conversations to learn their plans.
When detectives executed a search warrant at the apartment, they discovered dozens of used syringes and plastic bags containing whitish residue. Both parents were arrested Wednesday upon returning home.
