PORTLAND, OR – The parents of a toddler who ingested fentanyl and ended up with a life-altering brain injury will spend years behind bars. The boy’s father, Delone Dominque Kelley, has been sentenced to more than six years, and his mother, Samantha Faye Smith, to four and a half years.
According to a press release from the Multnomah County District Attorney, on June 25, 2023, the three-year-old boy had woken up eager to watch cartoons with his grandmother when he came into contact with the powerful opioid. His parents had brought fentanyl into the home, and the child was exposed to it.
“It is a tragic case all around. There is no doubt in my mind that these parents love this child and that he loves them,” said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Afton Coppedge.
Now five years old, the child is living with permanent injuries.
As previously reported by Emily’s Hope, poison control centers across the U.S. have seen a sharp rise in cases involving children under the age of six exposed to illicit fentanyl.
