One-year-old overdoses on parent’s Fentanyl in Cape Coral home, according to police

A one-year-old overdosed on fentanyl in a Cape Coral home. Police say the toddler got a hold of pills that were laced with fentanyl while his parents weren’t looking. Then police say his mom tried to cover up that they had drugs in the home by flushing them down the toilet.

Emergency room doctors at Cape Coral Hospital had to give him two shots of Narcan to save him. He is now recovering at Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The parents are in big trouble. On Nov. 16, their 18-month-old son got into pills he found in the house. It turned out to be fentanyl.

Master Corporal Phil Mullen with the Cape Coral Police Department said, “people are dying from these drugs that are so, so, so potent and their bodies can’t handle it.”

Mullen said the boy is lucky to be alive.

According to the arrest report, the child grabbed his father Angel Vasquez’s pills from a dresser drawer in their Cape Coral home.

It was only after the boy’s mother, Chelsey Godfrey, got home that they found the open pill bottle and rushed him to the hospital.

Police say Godfrey flushed the remaining pills down the toilet. They say Vasquez did not have a prescription for the pills.

“If it’s an addiction issue get help for your addiction, if not for yourself, do it for your kids,” said Mullen.

Cape Coral Hospital Medical Toxicologist Doctor Timothy Dougherty said he sees more kids getting a hold of dangerous drugs. “Is it a daily occurrence? No, but is it a monthly occurrence, it can be.”

With every occurrence, there is a risk of permanent damage to the child’s brain or death.

Dougherty said, “anytime you’re not breathing, you’re going to starve the brain from oxygen and that’s going to lead to brain damage. The question is, how long did that occur and is the brain going to be able to recover?”