A Pittsburgh woman was sentenced Wednesday to five to 10 years in a state prison for her toddler’s 2018 death from a fentanyl overdose.
Jhenea Pratt, 24, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment during a June trial.
Pratt has been jailed since her August 2018 arrest. Prosecutors said her 17-month-old daughter, Charlette Napper-Talley, was pronounced dead April 5, 2018, about an hour after Pratt called paramedics to her East Hills apartment.
An autopsy showed the girl ingested fentanyl. Two sippy cups were seized from Pratt’s apartment, one of which tested positive for fentanyl, police said.
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid painkiller. It can be illicitly produced overseas and then shipped into the United States, where it has contributed to an explosion of drug overdose deaths locally and nationally in recent years. With a tweak of the molecular structure, a new form of fentanyl can be illicitly created in laboratories.
Fentanyl contributed to 875 drug overdose deaths in Allegheny County in 2017 and 2018, according to medical examiner statistics.
