An Albuquerque man is accused of allowing his 1-year-old niece to ingest an opioid use disorder medication, leading to symptoms that required healthcare workers to administer Narcan, according to a grand jury indictment filed last week.
Gabriel Cordova, 38, is charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily harm in 2nd Judicial District Court in the March incident. He is being held in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, and a judge ruled last month he will remain behind bars until his trial.
Prosecutors wrote in their motion seeking pretrial detention of Cordova, “Exposing children to narcotics is extremely hazardous, and harmful to the wellbeing of the community. … Moreover, exposure can negatively affect the development of the child.”
Cordova’s criminal history includes guilty pleas to charges of second-degree kidnapping and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the motion notes.
But the public defender representing him, Jess Gaughan, cast doubt on the prosecutors’ case, arguing their version of events contained holes.
“I have serious concerns about the assumptions that have been made in this case,” she said in a statement. “Mr. Cordova was not present at the home when this terrible incident happened — several other adults were. Mr. Cordova is presumed innocent and I urge everyone not to jump to conclusions.”
Nancy Laflin, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office in Bernalillo County, responded, “The case was presented to a grand jury, which found probable cause to indict the defendant. Accordingly, we are proceeding with prosecution.”
Albuquerque police were called to University of New Mexico Hospital just before 5 p.m. in early March after the girl showed up with drug exposure symptoms and tested positive for opioids, a criminal complaint filed in the incident states.
Medical records later obtained by police indicated the girl tested positive for buprenorphine, an active ingredient in Suboxone, which is an opioid. Healthcare workers noted the girl’s symptoms were successfully treated with Narcan, the complaint states.
“At the time of my evaluation, this patient was critically ill and had a high probability of imminent life or limb threatening deterioration due to acute … poisoning with opiates,” a doctor wrote, according to the criminal complaint.
When they arrived, the girl’s mother — Cordova’s sister — told police she was cooking breakfast earlier that day in her friends’ home where she had been staying for weeks, and that she had temporarily left her daughter in the care of one of her friends, the complaint states. When she returned, her friend told her the girl was “passing out,” and the mother said the girl’s eyes were red.
She later added the girl was “not responding and appeared to be looking off into the distance,” according to the complaint. It adds the mother denied knowing of any drug use in the home, though she said she uses marijuana, and said her male roommate used methadone but that he locks it in a case.
Her friend also told police the two had smoked marijuana outside not long before the baby started showing symptoms, such as pinpoint pupils, according to the complaint. The friend added that Cordova had been staying in the home for two days, that he was “in recovery,” that he was the only person in the house using Suboxone and that he sleeps on the living room couch.
That woman’s boyfriend added he believed the girl’s exposure to Suboxone was “due to ‘human error’ rather than malicious intent,” the complaint states, adding the man told police Cordova was not paying attention to his medication.
When police searched the home, they found an empty packet of Suboxone, but could not lift fingerprints from it. The male roommate said he believed Cordova was the one who used the medication.
Ultimately, each of the adults in the house interviewed by police said they believed Cordova likely left the medication out and within reach of the 1-year-old, according to the complaint.
