Mother and grandmother charged after Chester SC baby dies of fentanyl drug overdose
A South Carolina mother and grandmother have been charged after a baby died of a fentanyl drug overdose, officials said.
The child, an 11-month-old girl, died Oct. 30 at a Chester home after ingesting fentanyl, according to Chester County Sheriff’s Office incident reports and arrest warrants obtained by The Herald. Toxicology and autopsy testing showed the drug overdose, warrants state.
The child’s mother, Joyce Renee Stover, 33, was arrested Monday on a charge of homicide by child abuse, following an investigation by deputies and the State Law Enforcement Division child fatality task force, arrest warrants show.
Stover had been banned from having unsupervised visits with the baby by a S.C Department of Social Services safety plan, according to sheriff’s office documents and the warrants. Yet Stover was at an Elizabeth Drive home for at least a half hour alone with the child on Oct. 30, documents show.
Investigators also found Narcan, a drug often used to treat opioid overdoses, in the baby’s crib, deputies said in incident reports.
Homicide by child abuse carries a potential sentence of 20 years in prison up to life for a conviction under South Carolina law.
Grandmother also charged
On Monday deputies also charged the baby’s grandmother, Sharon Elaine Jordan, 55, with felony unlawful neglect of a child, arrest warrants show.
Jordan had sole care and guardianship of the child because of the DSS safety plan that was in place, but is charged with allowing Stover unsupervised time with the child, the warrants state.
Jordan told responding deputies on Oct. 30 that her daughter used opioids including fentanyl, a sheriff’s office incident report stated.
A conviction for unlawful conduct toward a child carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, South Carolina law shows.
Fentanyl danger
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. In September the DEA issued a public advisory about fentanyl dangers.
“This incident, this death, illustrates just how dangerous fentanyl is,” said Max Dorsey, Chester County Sheriff. “There has been a national campaign to try and show how dangerous it can be. And now it has taken the life of someone so innocent as this child.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last year more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States. That’s the largest number of drug-related deaths ever recorded in a year, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Mother and grandmother charged after Chester SC baby dies of fentanyl drug overdose."
