ST. CLOUD — A Stearns County judge has sentenced a 25-year-old St. Cloud woman to five years probation for her role in the death of her 2-year-old who accidently ingested fentanyl.
Jamacy J. Johnson pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of second-degree manslaughter for the 2022 death of her toddler. On Thursday, Judge William Cashman stayed a four-year prison sentence and ordered Johnson be placed on five years probation, the terms of which include completing inpatient treatment for substance use.
According to court documents, staff at St. Cloud Hospital contacted police in April 2022 after Johnson and her boyfriend brought the child to the hospital under suspicious circumstances.
Johnson told doctors the child had eaten a Benadryl tablet and became very sleepy and stopped breathing, documents state, but initial toxicology reports showed no evidence of Benadryl.
Hospital staff told police the child suffered cardiac arrest and brain damage. The child died two days later. An autopsy listed the cause of death as accidental fentanyl toxicity.
A search of Johnson's apartment yielded several plastic bags with pills — which later tested positive for fentanyl — accessible to a toddler, as well as powder from what appeared to be crushed-up pills on a desk. A search of Johnson's phone showed text conversations about purchasing fentanyl prior to the child's overdose, documents state.
Overdose deaths have surged in recent years, especially in young adults. More than 5,000 children and adolescents died from overdoses involving fentanyl in the past two decades, according to a recent study from JAMA Pediatrics. The study also revealed 40 infants and more than 90 children ages 1 to 4 died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021.
According to St. Cloud police, 20 people died from an overdose involving fentanyl last year, up from 14 in 2021, eight in 2020 and two in 2018 and in 2019. Police Chief Jeff Oxton said the overdose total for this year likely won't be finalized until March.
