Jail Time For NJ Mother Who Took Drugs, Smothered Son: Prosecutor

A South Jersey woman who took drugs and alcohol before rolling over onto her son and suffocating him earlier this year has been sentenced to four years in state prison, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced.

Antoinette King, 34 of Lumberton, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to authorities.

King said she didn’t know the percocet pills she bought were laced with the synthetic opioid carfentanil. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, carfentanil can be 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

The 13-month-old’s grandmother called 911 shortly after finding both the mother and her son unresponsive in bed on Saturday night, Jan. 19. Police were able to revive the woman, but first responders performing CPR on the boy were unable to revive him, according to authorities. King was administered Narcan.

A court record says the Lumberton woman said she had multiple alcoholic drinks and took at least one prescription painkiller before she passed out, killing the boy.

King later told investigators she left her home around 6:30 p.m. after she had consumed four "airplane bottles" of alcohol and a Percocet 10, according to the report.

They were both taken to Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, where the child was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that the child died as a result of compression asphyxia.

Read more here: South Jersey Mother Took Drugs, Smothered Boy In Bed: Cops