Mother of child who tested positive for fentanyl released on bracelet; father held without bail | Merrimack Valley

LAWRENCE — The parents of a 1-year-old girl who tested positive for fentanyl have been found to be dangerous.

The father of the child, McDanner Pereyra, 27, was ordered held without bail Tuesday after a dangerousness hearing in Lawrence District Court. The mother, Jennifer Ouch, 27, was released on the condition that she wear a GPS monitoring device, stay in her home at all times and post $10,000 cash bail.

Judge Kevin Gaffney scheduled a probable cause hearing for March 29.

Ouch and Pereyra were arraigned Feb. 19 on charges of trafficking more than 10 grams of fentanyl, unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a large-scale feeding device. They were arrested after testing revealed the presence of fentanyl in their child.

Ouch brought the child to Lawrence General Hospital at 2:30 p.m. after she found a pill in the girl’s mouth. That triggered the investigation that resulted in the couple’s arrest.

Police said Ouch lied to them when she claimed the girl found the pill on the floor in a store. The girl’s 6-year-old brother, told officers she actually picked up the pill at their home and put it in her mouth.

Pereyra admitted that he told Ouch, his girlfriend, to lie and say the pill came from the store, according to the police report. Pereyra said he told her to lie because he feared the state might take their children away, police said. 

After the child tested positive for fentanyl, detectives and investigators with the state Department of Children and Families went to the hospital and interviewed the parents as well as the 6-year-old. Police then obtained a search warrant for Pereyra and Ouch’s home at 65 Osgood St.

Detectives found two plastic bags with fentanyl, one with 32.1 grams, the other containing 11.8 grams, police said. They also found two and a half “bars” of Xanax, according to authorities.

Police discovered a gun box under a bed containing a magazine with 11 9-mm rounds, a pistol holster, assorted firearm accessories and an operation manual for a semi-automatic pistol.

They located $896 in cash under the mattress and found several boxes of 7.62-mm rounds of ammunition, 23 loose 9-mm rounds and 20 loose 7.62-mm rounds in a drawer in a front room, police said.

Pereyra denied owning a gun, according to investigators.

The little girl is expected to make a full recovery, according to Detective Thomas Cuddy, spokesman for the Lawrence Police Department. After Pereyra and Ouch were arrested, the girl and her 6-year-old brother were placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, according to Carrie Kimball, communications director for the Essex District Attorney’s Office.