Livermore police on Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of homicide and child abuse causing death after his 23-month-old daughter died in August with a toxic level of fentanyl in her system.
Police arrested 22-year-old Justin Pittman of Livermore, who was supposed to be taking care of the girl the day she died. Livermore police say Pittman admitted he's a fentanyl addict.
At 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 18, officers responded to a report of a 23-month-old not breathing in the 200 block of Turnstone Drive. They found the child unresponsive and tried performing life-saving measures until relieved by paramedics. The girl was pronounced dead at the hospital.
After an autopsy revealed the girl had fentanyl in her blood at the time of her death, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office issued a warrant for Pittman's arrest.
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At 5 p.m. Wednesday, Livermore detectives arrested Pittman in a business parking lot in the city of Martinez without incident. He was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning, authorities said.
"Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous drug and impacts the lives of many," Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young said in a statement. "Fentanyl use and the illegal distribution of the drug is a nationwide epidemic. This is a tragic loss for the family and our community."
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Investigators had to wait over two months for the toddler’s toxicology reports before they could charge Pittman .
“Once those results revealed the baby had high toxic levels of fentanyl in her blood he was booked and charged with homicide,” said Livermore Police Public Information Officer Azenith Smith.
Dr. Stuart Heard, a professor at UCSF’s School of Pharmacy said that fentanyl related deaths are creating a crisis nationwide. He added that it’s addictive and deadly.
“It doesn’t take very much to be harmful and a child, a much smaller person, it would take even less to be very harmful,” Heard said.
Police said there have been four fentanyl-related deaths this year in Livermore.
Bay City News contributed to the report.
