A man was indicted on child abuse and manslaughter charges Monday, more than six months after his toddler purportedly died with methadone in her system in Halethorpe.
Court records show Eugene White, 54, of Havre de Grace, has been held without bond since his arrest in early October. When a grand jury elevated his case to the Baltimore County Circuit Court this week, they issued six counts, including neglect and reckless endangerment.
When White was taken into custody, authorities accused him of involuntary manslaughter. Monday’s indictment, however, dropped the qualifier. In Maryland, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter carry the same maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Although the public defender’s office had signaled its intent to represent White in district court, as of Tuesday, a specific attorney was not assigned to White’s case. A spokesperson for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
According to charging documents, on April 25, Baltimore County Police officers and paramedics responded to a cardiac arrest reported at the Halethorpe apartment where White lived. The father reportedly told authorities that his daughter had not woken up since taking her medication the night before.
Police described different developmental and sensory issues the toddler — she was either 2 or 3, but her birthdate was redacted — suffered from and some of the medicine she required. According to charging papers, White was her sole caretaker, and when he returned from dropping off his other daughter at school that morning, he found her “unresponsive and cold to the touch.”
Medical personnel pronounced the toddler dead about an hour after the 911 call.
An autopsy was soon conducted, and less than a week after the girl’s death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner informed police that she had ingested methadone.
Authorities did not say that the toddler died of an overdose in charging documents but cited the cause of death as “Methadone Intoxication complicated by Influenza B Infection and Bacteremia.”
Investigators interviewed White two times, once at a hospital in Baltimore and again a couple weeks later, according to court records. White reportedly told detectives the girl’s mother had used and sold methadone but that “she hasn’t been at the residence for some time.”
He denied using the drug himself, according to police, but said if his daughter had methadone in her system, “he must have administered it as he is her caregiver.” According to charging documents, White said he might have used a dirty syringe to inject the girl’s medication through her feeding tube.
A few days after his daughter’s death, White consented to a drug screening from the county Department of Social Services. Police said he had tested positive for methadone and fentanyl.
As of Tuesday, his next court date had not been scheduled.
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