Baby’s Fentanyl Death: Dad Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter

SKOKIE, IL — The father of an toddler observed lifeless final 12 months in unincorporated Maine Township has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and boy or girl endangerment.

Michael Piazza, 40, was arrested Monday in link with the May well 2021 death of his 33-working day-previous son in the 9600 block of Biano Terrace, authorities claimed.

An autopsy observed that the toddler, determined as J.P. in court docket files, died as a outcome of put together drug toxicity from a few kinds of fentanyl, and the Cook dinner County Professional medical Examiner’s workplace dominated his demise a homicide, in accordance to prosecutors.

J.P.’s mom was getting treated for opiate addition at the time of his delivery, and the baby boy used the to start with 13 times of his lifetime becoming monitored for indicators of withdrawal right after staying identified with prenatal drug exposure, Assistant State’s Attorney Mary McMahon said Tuesday at Piazza’s very first court visual appearance.

McMahan said the toddler was last viewed by a health practitioner about a 7 days right after he was put into the treatment of his mothers and fathers and two weeks just before his death, and practically nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

On the morning of May possibly 24, 2021, J.P.’s mother arrived into the bed room of their Des Plaines apartment soon after paying the evening on the couch though Piazza took treatment of their youngster, the prosecutor stated.

“[She] discovered [Piazza] sleeping on their queen-dimension bed. J.P. was also on the mattress,” McMahon reported. “J.P. was cold to the touch and not responsive.”

The toddler was taken to Lutheran Basic Hospital and pronounced useless on arrival. The first benefits of an autopsy ended up inconclusive, McMahon claimed, but a Cook dinner County Medical Examiner report accomplished in October 2021 found fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, and despropionyl fentanyl in the child’s heart and blood tissue.

In an job interview with Prepare dinner County Sheriff’s Police investigators, Piazza admitted obtaining bought two bags of heroin, which he made use of all over the working day right before his son was identified useless, such as snorting it in the toilet prior to preparing a bottle and feeding his little one, McMahon reported.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Workplace said the baby’s mother was also taken into custody for questioning Monday, but she was produced without having rates, according to the Prepare dinner Coutny Sherif’s Business office.

Prepare dinner County Affiliate Judge Frank Andreou ordered Piazza to continue to be jailed until he posts the $30,000 cash part of his bail. Piazza is owing back in court docket Could 11 for a bond review hearing.