A Venice couple who had lied to investigators over their baby’s cocaine intoxication is now facing child neglect charges.
33-year-old Kaitlyn Van Dorn told detectives on January 8 that she was on a walk with her baby boy when he picked up something from the ground and swallowed it.
“When we get there, the female defendant who’s in the home says, ‘He put something in his mouth while we were on a walk, I don’t know what it was,” Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office community affairs director Kaitlyn Perez said.
“The area is kind of known for narcotics use, so EMF decided to deploy Naloxone three times on the little boy.”
Perez said that when officers responded to the home, the baby was limp and unconscious.
“Thank God that they did because he regained full consciousness, was awake and really, really alert.”
The mom’s boyfriend Blake Pavey, 34, confirmed her narrative but denied being with them during the trip.
“He corroborates her story and says, ‘Yeah, I saw her run through into the house, the baby unconscious, she threw the bucket down by the door and called 911’.”
Perez said that neither the mom nor the toddler ever left their residence, as proven by surveillance recordings from several properties around the house.
“Did we see where the child picked something up? None of it ever happened. She never went on a walk. We’re 100% certain on that. So, we’re confident that he ingested the cocaine inside the house at some point.”
