SLO mother sentenced to 4 years in prison after toddler dies of fentanyl poisoning
A San Luis Obispo mother was sentenced to four years in state prison Wednesday for causing her 3-year old son’s death by fentanyl poisoning, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The boy’s mother, Jennifer Niemann, 30, was his primary caregiver and present at the time of his poisoning on May 4. She was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment on Nov. 10 in San Diego and brought back to San Luis Obispo after the San Luis Obispo Police Department’s investigation into her son’s death found Niemann’s actions “allowed access to fentanyl, which directly led to the child’s death,” according to a release from the department at the time.
Niemann was charged and pleaded guilty to child endangerment resulting in death.
On May 4, the toddler was found unresponsive, turning blue and not breathing at a home in the 1600 block of Mill Street. Despite live-saving efforts from first responders and transport to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, the child never regained consciousness and ultimately died.
The San Luis Obispo County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy, which included a toxicology screening, at the request of the Police Department. The screening results, which came back in mid-June, showed the child had died from a fatal level of fentanyl in his system.
“Drug use is not a victimless crime. The life of this precious 3-year-old child was tragically taken away as a result of his mother’s use of illicit drugs and recklessly exposing her child to them,” San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said in the release.
At the sentencing hearing, San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Danielle Baker read to the court a three-page written statement prepared by the father of the boy, which described his son as “very happy, energetic and healthy.”
The father said he felt “confusion and betrayal” when he learned that his “3-year-old son had overdosed on a pharmaceutical-grade narcotic that is 50 times stronger than heroin.”
The sentencing court was provided with three videos showing the child in-life as healthy, active and charismatic, the news release said. The final video depicted the child singing happy birthday to his father the day before his death.
