By David J. Neal
Miami Herald
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The same week West Palm Beach’s Charlie Hagan nearly died from a heroin overdose, a baby girl in her care nearly died from a heroin overdose.
That’s according to the arrest reports for Hagan and Joseph Critelli, a couple facing matching child neglect charges after their arrest Thursday by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Hagan and Critelli’s relationship to the 11-month-old girl, who overdosed July 2, isn’t stated in the arrest reports. The 38-year-old Hagan is at least a legal guardian, if not the mother.
Drugs, legal and illegal, surround the couple. The Department of Health website says Critelli’s pharmacist license expires Saturday. When the deputy talked to Critelli, 49, “it appeared he was under the influence of a narcotic, which he confirmed,” according to the report.
Hagan spent a year in prison for burglary and possession of a controlled substance from January 2014 to January 2015. Also, the arrest report says, she told Palm Beach sherifd’s deputies she was in the hospital for a heroin overdose earlier in the week “where she stated she almost died.”
As for the child who almost died, Hagan and Critelli noticed the baby acting fussier than usual. Critelli said they were all on the bed. The baby doesn’t get on the floor, he said, because there’s enough toys for her on the bed.
Investigators later determined there wasn’t room for the child on the floor. Possessions of a hoarder, a relative of Joseph’s, consumed the house “from ground to ceiling with a multitude of items.”
When Critelli tried to put the baby down for a nap, he noticed a raspy sound in addition to her crying. The erratic breathing prompted a 911 call.
Someone else in the house, a registered nurse whose name is redacted from the report, tried to give the child CPR. Critelli thought the child had gotten into his cigarettes. By the time the fire rescue unit arrived, Critelli said the lethargic child had dilated pupils so he wondered if she might be dehydrated.
Once the child got to St. Mary’s Medical Center, the medical staff administered two doses of Narcan to revive the child.
A relative of Hagan’s, Seglinda Bailey, has filed a family court case against Hagan for custody of the child.
Copyright 2017 Miami Herald