Parents arrested after their child overdoses on fentanyl at school

CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — Two parents were arrested following a fentanyl overdose at L.A. Ainger Middle School, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

Charlotte County Fire & EMS and deputies responded to the school on Wednesday, where the student overdosed on fentanyl. CPR and Narcan were administered before the child was taken to the hospital.

Mark Baird, a parent to a 7th grader who was in the classroom when it happened, said his daughter was shaken up by what she saw.

"The student was passed out at her desk," said Baird. "She said she had her head down on the table. They noticed she was turning blue."

The investigation revealed that the child consumed fentanyl from an essential oil bottle labeled "FENT" taken from her home.

"Lock the parents up," said Earl Hood, a grandparent of a student at the school. "That's first place I'd start, get the girl help."

The child and two other kids were reportedly to have lived and been under the care of the two arrested: Joshua Sanders and Courtney Delaney.

Sanders lived with Delaney and her three children since April 2025. Delaney admitted to finding narcotics in the home multiple times and disposing of them without confronting Sanders.

Later, while speaking to authorities, Sanders admitted to leaving the bottle in the bathroom and acknowledged labeling it.

The child disclosed that they had seen Sanders use narcotics and took the bottle to school out of curiosity, leading to the overdose.

Students had informed school staff that the child told them that they snorted a white powder off the toilet paper holder in the bathroom stall and had walked out of the bathroom with a white powder on their nose.

Field tests confirmed the presence of fentanyl in the essential oils bottle and on a toilet paper holder.

"It's a surprise, but unfortunately, not that much of one," said Jeff Dillon, the director of community alliances for the Englewood Community Coalition and Creative Arts. "The need for substance uses and misuse education has been growing on a daily basis, and the range, the age range for young people, is increasing. It used to be, we used to think that teens perhaps were a problem demographic, but now it goes all the way from kindergarten all the way up through high school."

Sanders and Delaney were charged with one count of child neglect causing great bodily harm and two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm for the other children in the residence.

Authorities arrested Sanders and Delaney on Tuesday. The Department of Children and Families took custody of the three children.