Devin Rollins (Mug shot from Muncie Police Department via WXIN/YouTube)
A 3-year-old Indiana girl ate fentanyl from a pill crusher in her father’s backpack, and her father faces felony neglect charges in the case, authorities said.
Devin D’rell Rollins, 25, is in custody on charges of felony neglect of a dependent. The unidentified girl has recovered and is safe with family members.
The case came to light on June 30 when the girl and her father had been staying at the home of the girl’s aunt, according to an affidavit obtained by local Fox and CBS affiliate WXIN.
The sequence of events happened after the father allegedly told the aunt that his daughter had “possibly gotten into some Tylenol,” court documents said.
The aunt called 911, saying the girl was lethargic and the girl was hospitalized. At the hospital, staffers tried to find the father, who had been thought to have been with his daughter there but was nowhere to be seen, the affidavit said.
Workers from the Department of Children and Family Services (DCS) and police were called, the document said.
“Devin was not located by officers or DCS,” the affidavit said, adding that DCS tried 19 times to contact the father and the mother. Police knocked on doors at multiple addresses in Muncie without success, the document said.
Eventually, doctors learned the girl had tested positive for fentanyl and police caught up with the father at his home, the affidavit said.
He had left the home of the girl’s aunt before paramedics had taken his daughter to the hospital.
According to the affidavit, Devin had called the girl’s mother, telling her that “he woke up next to KR and she was limp.”
He did not tell the mother that he left and did not accompany the girl to the hospital, the document said.
When Devin, who has two previous child neglect charges and three active warrants, was brought in for questioning, he told investigators, “he just wanted to go to jail and that his daughter is fine,” the affidavit said.
He also told allegedly police he was “withdrawing.”
When the officer asked him what he was withdrawing from, he said, “You already know from what,” the affidavit said.
When the officer said his daughter tested positive for fentanyl, he allegedly said his daughter “may have gotten into an old pill crusher in his backpack.”
He also reportedly told police why he left before paramedics arrived to take his daughter to the hospital, saying he’d been “running from these warrants” for five years.
Rollins was booked on Tuesday on $20,000 bail into the Delaware County Jail on a charge of neglect of a dependent, online booking records show.
He has two pending child neglect and confinement charges in Delaware County, online court records show. The Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office has until Wednesday to file criminal charges, court records say.
A relative spoke anonymously to WXIN, urging against judging the defendant.
“I do not excuse the choices that he made. However, I do feel like people should be a little more compassionate and less judgmental because I’m sure that everyone has loved ones or people they know that are addicts or in active addiction, and it’s ugly. It’s a horrible disease, and it does destroy lives.”
“He just made some really poor choices, and he’s going to have to live with this the rest of his life,” the relative added.
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