PERRYVILLE – A man has been charged with two felonies in connection with a one-year-old child’s overdose on the drug Fentanyl.
According to a news release from Perry County Prosecuting Attorney Caitlin Pistorio police were called to Perry Country Memorial Hospital Monday to assist in the investigation of an unresponsive one year old child.
The child had been brought to the hospital by Dustin Diemert who said he was dating the child’s mother.
Hospital personnel informed the responding officers that the child was suffering an overdose due to opioid ingestion and had to be administered Narcan (a drug to reverse the effects of opioid drugs).
The child was then flown to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for further treatment. In transit, another dose of Narcan was administered to revive the child.
Detective Michelle Zahner with the Perryville Police Department conducted an interview of Diemert where he initially denied knowing how the child came to access the fentanyl. After further questioning, he admitted to going to buy fentanyl from his dealer at approximately 6:45 a.m. on January 10 and to using fentanyl before returning home at approximately 9:15 a.m.
Diemert stated the victim was still asleep, so he went back to bed with the victim. Diemert stated when he woke up, he found the victim had climbed to the top of the dresser where he had placed the drugs before getting in bed. He found the victim drowsy and not acting right with two chewed-up capsules of his fentanyl on the floor.
Diemert then took the child to Perry County Memorial Hospital Emergency Room for treatment. He brought one of the chewed-up capsules with him to the hospital. Diemert admitted he minimized his role by telling the hospital staff that he did not know what the capsule was, but he found it in the victim’s mouth, and it might be what was wrong with him.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Perry County, Caitlin M.H. Pistorio, charged Dustin Diemert with the Class B Felony of Child Endangerment and the Class D Felony of Possession of a Controlled Substance.
As charged, Diemert faces up to 22 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Diemert is being held in the Perry County Jail on a $20,000 cash only bond on a warrant issued by Judge Craig Brewer.