Mother who is accused of killing her baby makes court appearance
By Matt Wreden
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BUTTE COUNTY, California (KHSL) — A Chico woman appeared in Butte County Superior Court on June 6 regarding the fentanyl overdose death of her baby boy.
Christy Ann Scarbrough, 40, was charged by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office special victims’ unit for felony child abuse with a special allegation that the abuse resulted in the infant’s death.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Scarbrough found the boy face down in his crib on the evening of July 6, 2023, the boy’s first birthday. The child was blue and unresponsive. She took him to Enloe Hospital, where he was ultimately pronounced dead, Ramsey said.
An investigation by Chico police revealed there was a straw in the baby’s crib that tested positive for fentanyl. An extensive investigation was followed by the police and district attorney’s office, including an autopsy that showed an extraordinarily high amount of fentanyl in the infant’s gastric acid, indicating the baby ingested the fentanyl.
Ramsey said Scarbrough is an admitted fentanyl user. The use of a straw is a common method of adult ingestion of fentanyl, a powerful opioid.
“We have overdoses and here’s a child that obviously got into its mother’s stash of fentanyl and expired because of that,” Ramsey said.
Scarbrough was previously convicted of child abuse in 2013 and sentenced to prison when her then seven-week-old daughter tested positive for methamphetamine. Ramsey said it was alleged that Scarbrough was taking methamphetamine and other drugs while breastfeeding the child.
“Most significant prior conviction to what she was sentenced to state prison was eerily similar in the sense that time her seven-week-old baby was presented to the hospital very sick from methamphetamine overdose,” Ramsey said.
At the arraignment on June 6, Butte County Superior Court Judge Kristen Lucena held Scarbrough without bail. Scarbrough is due to return to court on June 20, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. to enter a plea. She faces up to 10 years in state prison.
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