11 September 2023- It appears that a four year old is still alive following two doses of Narcan being administered to her following an accidental overdose in August. The child’s mother, Amarilys Velez-Esquilin, is charged with felony aggravated assault of a child, felony child endangerment, misdemeanor reckless endangerment, and misdemeanor drug possession. Velez-Esquilin is behind bars in Franklin County on $100,000 bail.
Chambersburg PD officers were dispatched to the Chambersburg Hospital on August 17th for an unresponsive four year old girl. When police talked to the staff, they were informed that the child was given two doses of Narcan and was showing a positive response from it. Officers were brought to the girl’s parents, Amarilys Velez-Esquilin and Anthony Velez-Esquilin. CPD spoke to Amarilys (Velez-Esquilin), with her allegedly denying any drug use in the home besides marijuana. When she took a urine test, however, police say they found the presence of THC and fentanyl.
Due to her condition, Velez-Esquilin’s daughter was flown to Hershey Medical Center for additional treatment. She was released from the hospital five days later on August 21st.
A second interview was conducted with Velez-Esquilin, with her again allegedly denying using any other drugs besides marijuana. She did, however, admit to using Percocet in the past but according to police her urine continued to test positive for fentanyl and THC.
After this interview, police requested and were granted a search warrant for Velez-Esquilin’s household. During the execution of the warrant, police allegedly found a red straw with a white powder on it among Velez-Esquilin’s personal belongings. Police allegedly also found other drug paraphernalia and controlled substances. After this search warrant, Velez-Esquilin reportedly admitted to police that she had been using heroin for the past year.
Amarilys Velez-Esquilin is behind bars on $100,000 bail. Her preliminary hearing is set for September 19th.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39201-CR-0000315-2023, Incident No.: C202309497
