California mother enters child abuse plea in son’s fentanyl death. He died on his 1st birthday

A Northern California mother pleaded no contest last week to child abuse after her son ingested fentanyl she left in his crib and he died on his first birthday from a fentanyl overdose last year, prosecutors said.

Christy Ann Scarbrough, 40, of Durham pleaded no contest Thursday in Butte Superior Court to a single count of child abuse, enhanced by an admission she allowed the child to suffer unjustifiable pain or injury that led to the boy’s death.

Scarbrough found her unresponsive son, blue in the face, laying face down in his crib on July 6, 2023, according to the Butte County District Attorney’s Office. She took him to Enloe Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The boy had a straw in his crib filled with fentanyl. An autopsy also found he had an “extraordinarily high amount of fentanyl” in his gastric acid, “indicating the baby ingested the fentanyl,” prosecutors said in a news release.

Scarbrough, who prosecutors said was an admitted fentanyl user, also was previously convicted of child abuse. She was sentenced to prison after her 7-week-old daughter tested positive of meth, though the girl did not suffer any great bodily injury, the release said.

The girl was removed from Scarbrough’s care, prosecutors said.

Scarbrough is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 12.