Harrison mom accused of nearly killing daughter with drug-contaminated cotton balls
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An 11-month-old Harrison girl nearly died this summer after chewing on cotton balls soaked with remnants of the opioids her mother had used intravenously at a Union Avenue home, police said.
Now, the girl’s mother is facing charges.
Lenae Elizabeth Mills, 29, noticed her daughter, whom police did not name, “was not able to keep her head up, and her eyes were rolling back in her head” after chewing on the “cottons” Aug. 4 in the Harrison home of Mills’ parents, according to a criminal complaint in the case.
The unresponsive girl was taken to Allegheny Valley Hospital, where she was revived with at least two doses of Narcan, the complaint said. She then was flown by helicopter to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville.
“This incident is unequivocal supervisory neglect,” hospital physician Dr. Hannah Sahud wrote in an Aug. 7 note, according to the complaint.
The girl “lives in a home where her caregivers know there are illicit substances and (the girl) was able to get them into her system,” Sahud wrote. She “almost died from these drugs and would have (died) had she not gotten medical intervention.”
Allegheny County Police charged Mills on Sept. 15 with three counts of aggravated assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, court records show. All four charges are felonies.
Cotton balls are commonly used as filters for drugs before they are injected, county police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said.
Police found multiple “cottons” scattered throughout the basement of the home, Madalinsky said. The “cottons” and other drug paraphernalia were found among “colorful items a child might play with or be curious about” such as crayons, silicone wristbands and hair ties.
A blood test revealed the child tested positive for fentanyl and cocaine.
Mills remained in Butler County jail Tuesday, a day after authorities apprehended her, Madalinsky said.
She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in front of District Judge Carolyn S. Bengel, court records show.
No attorney for her was listed in court records.