Española police arrest parents of child treated for fentanyl overdose

ESPAÑOLA, N.M. — Police arrested the parents of an 18-month-old child treated by doctors for a fentanyl overdose Tuesday in Española.

Española police responded Tuesday at around 10:23 p.m. to the Española Presbyterian Hospital regarding a child exposed to fentanyl, resulting in an overdose. Child protective services were also called and had to intervene.

Officers arrived and learned the child may have accidentally taken “something like fentanyl” while playing in the home. The father noticed the child showed signs of an abnormal condition and informed his significant other, the mother, who took them to the hospital.

Doctors treated the child who “responded positively” to Narcan.

A criminal complaint identified the mother as 29-year-old Caitlyn Sanchez and the father as 34-year-old Matthew Padilla. Sanchez allegedly said they used fentanyl in their bathroom and their vehicles, sometimes “nearly all day” according to a criminal complaint.

Padilla was treated for symptoms of an overdose, according to the complaint. Sanchez allegedly said she faced child abuse charges before. Court documents show Sanchez had a warrant for child abuse in 2021, as well as a warrant for drug possession, at the time of her arrest Tuesday.

The parents now face new first-degree and third-degree child abuse charges.

The child is being treated at a neonatal intensive care unit.