A Pottsville couple was charged with reckless endangerment after police reportedly found cocaine and other substances in their 5-month-old child who died in their home recently.
Kenneth Ortega, 36, and Andrea Ortega, 33, were charged by Pottsville police in the Oct. 15 incident in their West Market Street home. Police alleged they allowed their baby daughter to sleep between them in their bed, which caused multiple rib fractures, suffocation and led to her death.
The official coroner’s report listed the baby’s cause of death as traumatic asphyxia complicated by cocaine toxicity, according to police.
During the autopsy, police found the baby had suffered broken ribs and that several substances — Naloxone, Benzoylecgonine, cocaine and methyl ester — were found in her bloodstream.
According to court documents:
Police said they were dispatched the morning of Oct. 15 for what was reported as a cardiac arrest by Schuylkill County 911. The Ortegas said that the girl had slept in their bed from around 10 p.m. the prior night to 9 a.m. that morning.
Pottsville EMS transported the baby to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill. Police said she had a high temperature of 101.3 at the time of her death and had no obvious signs of injury on her body. All life-saving measures were used, but staff were unable to revive her, according to police.
During an interview with the defendants and their attorney at city hall, police told them that they found the baby had suffered broken ribs and that Naloxone, Benzoylecgonine, cocaine and methyl ester were found in her blood. Neither parent “had any answer for this” and denied using those drugs or administering them to the baby, police said.
Kenneth Ortega told police the baby was being fussy the night of Oct. 14 and possibly teething. He said no medication was given to her. He said the baby was on a chair prior to the defendants going to bed, but at some point in the night he brought her into bed with him and his wife.
Kenneth Ortega said that “everything seemed fine” overnight, and he took his two other children to school in the morning and returned home. He told police he went to check on the baby, but found her unresponsive. He and Andrea called 911 and began to perform CPR on the baby.
Andrea Ortega told police that she believed the baby was teething, and said the only medication she gave her was Orajel. She said that when Kenneth checked on her, she became aware something was wrong.
The defendants were charged by Pottsville police officer Charles B. Webber.
Charges were filed through Magisterial District Judge James K. Reiley in Pottsville.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 6 in Reiley’s office.