Venice couple charged with child neglect after alleged overdose

VENICE, Fla. (WWSB) - A Venice couple has been arrested for alleged child neglect five months after their 21-month-old son overdosed when he put a spoon with fentanyl and cocaine residue in his mouth, according to authorities.

The couple, Blake Pavey, 34, and Kaitlyn Van Dorn, 33, were arrested May 29. Pavey was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm. Van Dorn was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and probation violation on a previous charge of possession of a controlled substance.

On Jan. 8, emergency medical services responded to a call at a home in the 2100 block of Park Road. A child was unconscious and not breathing, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The child was revived after EMS gave him three doses of naloxone, a medication to reverse opioid overdoses, the sheriff’s office said.

Van Dorn told deputies she and her son went on a walk around the neighborhood when he picked up unknown object and put it in his mouth, according to an affidavit.

She originally told authorities her son took a teal bucket to collect rocks and put something unknown in his mouth and also a needle cap, which she allegedly swatted both away, according to an affidavit. He then went limp and she allegedly carried him home while leaving the teal bucket behind on their route, according to the affidavit.

Deputies did not find any of the items on the route she reportedly walked along, nor did surveillance video from a nearby business show Van Dorn walking the route at the time she stated, according to the affidavit.

Deputies found the teal bucket inside their home.

Later that night, Department of Children and Families investigators were present for a home visit and found a pipe on the couch and spoon inside the child’s bucket. The spoon tested positive for fentanyl and cocaine and the pipe was positive for cocaine, according to a report. The child was removed from the home at that time, police said.

The two had previously been arrested at the beginning of May for theft. Based on evidence and conflicting statements, deputies charged the pair with child neglect on May 29.