A Bethlehem woman has pleaded guilty to causing the overdose death of her 2-year-old son.
Nicole Ann Stauffer, 47, entered a plea Monday on a charge of involuntary manslaughter before Northampton County Judge Anthony Beltrami, acknowledging that her negligence led to the death of the boy in 2022.
According to authorities:
Emergency personnel were called the evening of July 5, 2022, for a boy found not breathing at Stauffer’s Stefko Boulevard home. The boy died about an hour after responders arrived. The Lehigh County coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide due to fentanyl overdose.
Police searched Stauffer’s home the next day and found narcotic material and drug paraphernalia in the bedroom, including the area where the boy was sleeping. A state police analysis determined the uncapped syringe and several glassine packets contained fentanyl.
A review of Stauffer’s medical records revealed the child was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome and opioid withdrawal as a result of her drug use during pregnancy, a law enforcement affidavit said. She gave birth to “several” other children with the same conditions, according to the affidavit.
A call after business hours to Stauffer’s attorney listed in court records, Sara Alison Moyer, was not returned Tuesday.
Her sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 20 before Beltrami. Involuntary manslaughter, a second-degree felony if the deceased is a child under 12 in the custody of a defendant, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
The boy’s father, Christian R. Brewster, 27, who was facing similar charges, pleaded guilty this year to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, while second-degree felonies of involuntary manslaughter and endangering a child’s welfare were withdrawn, court records show. He received a sentence of 12-24 months, according to the court summary.
