ENFIELD, Conn. — The 1-year-old boy who died in an Enfield home nearly one year ago was found to have a "lethal level of Fentanyl" in his system, according to the arrest warrant for his father.
The father, identified as Lenin Rodriguez, 30, was found to have Fentanyl in his system multiple times since the incident, and police were told he has had trouble with pills in the past.
After nearly a year of investigations, Rodriguez was arrested Wednesday in connection to his child's Fentanyl-involved death.
"This is a tragic event for everyone involved," Enfield Police Chief Alaric Fox told FOX61. "Certainly it is also what we are trained and expected to do. And the investigation and the skillset of the people that are involved did lead to what we believe is the appropriate conclusion here."
Police were called to a home on the 300 block of North Maple Street in Enfield on the evening of Nov. 22, 2021, on a report of an unresponsive child.
The mother had put the child down for a nap that afternoon between 2:20 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., according to the arrest warrant. The child was left alone for a nap for at least 75 minutes before Rodriguez checked up on the child. He told police the child smelled like he threw up and was not breathing.
The mother called 911 and the child was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. There were no signs of obvious trauma when the attending physician examined the child, police said.
During investigation interviews, the mother told investigators that she did not have knowledge of having heroin in the house - as investigators said Fentanyl is an opioid that is often associated with heroin. She also said she and her husband - Rodriguez - only smoke marijuana.
The mother did add that Rodriguez had a prior issue with Percocet and that he told her he had an addiction to pills. He had gone into a recovery program and was given medication to not crave the pills, so the mother since had an "impression" there was nothing in her house, she told police.
Before taking a drug test for the investigation in February, the Department of Children and Families told police Rodriguez admitted to taking Suboxone several times, but it's not clear when those drugs were taken.
When the child's parents were drug tested, the mother only tested positive for Cannabinoid presence, but Rodriguez was found to have 0.25 ng/mL of Fentanyl in his system, according to the warrant.
The toxicology report of the 1-year-old boy revealed that he had 5,800 ng/mL of Fentanyl in his system. Just 2 mg is considered a lethal dose, according to the DEA.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as "acute fentanyl intoxication" and the manner of death as "undetermined", police reported.
Rodriguez was arrested for OUI by Massachusetts State Police in July. He failed field sobriety tests but did not have any alcohol in his system when he took a breath test, the police report states. During that booking process, Rodriguez told police he took a Percocet earlier that night and does not have a prescription for the pills.
It remains unclear how exactly the Fentanyl got into the 1-year-old boy's system.
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