Salem couple indicted after 9-month-old ingests fentanyl | Crime

BRENTWOOD — A Salem couple is accused of leaving fentanyl near their 9-month-old boy who ingested the potentially deadly drug and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Jonathan Bryant, 37, and Kelly Bryant, 31, face felony charges of reckless conduct and drug possession alleging they placed the baby in danger after the fentanyl was left within reach of the infant.

The pair was indicted this month on the charges, which resulted from an investigation into the incident that police said occurred on Sept. 12, when the baby was found crying and showing signs of drug use.

According to a Salem police affidavit, Jonathan Bryant brought the baby to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen after he ingested the drug.

Hospital records confirmed that the baby’s urine tested positive for fentanyl in his system.

The baby was transferred by ambulance to Tufts Medical Center in Boston for further treatment, but the outcome of his treatment wasn’t known Wednesday.

During an interview with police, Kelly Bryant said she left their home at 5 Helen Road to go to a doctor’s appointment on the evening of Jan. 12.

Before she left, police said she claimed that her husband told her he had misplaced a quarter of a Percocet pill that was wrapped in foil. Police said the pill was purchased illegally in Lawrence, Mass., “meaning it was likely not a genuine Percocet, but rather fentanyl pressed and stamped to appear to be a Percocet.”

Kelly Bryant told police that she returned home from the doctor’s appointment and found the baby crying in the living room with a piece of foil in his mouth. She stated that she pulled the foil out of his mouth and handed it to her husband, but there was nothing left inside, police said.

The baby appeared to be suffering symptoms of drug use as he was “suddenly lethargic, on the nod, and he was not reacting to water being splashed on his face,” police said.

At that point, the baby was rushed to the hospital.

Police said that when they executed a search warrant at the home they found several signs of drug use, including plastic baggies with a white powdery residue. They also found money rolled up with a white powdery substance inside “used for snorting crushed up pills,” police said, adding that the Bryants admitted that was how they ingested the drug.

Jonathan Bryant initially denied that he and his wife used drugs, according to the affidavit.

At one point, police said, the couple also told investigators that they had friends over on Sept. 9 and suggested that the drug could have come from them, but later admitted that wasn’t true.

Jonathan Bryant later told police that the pill belonged to he and his wife and that he had lost it. He also confirmed that he bought it on the streets of Lawrence and “did not know whether it was a genuine Percocet or not.”

Kelly Bryant stated that the last time she had used Percocet was on Sept. 9, police said.

During his police interview, Jonathan Bryant eventually admitted that he had previously had an addiction to Percocet, but had not used it in more than a month.

Both have pleaded not guilty and are free on personal recognizance bond.