3 facing drug charges after 2-year-old hospitalized from exposure

By KSTP

A man and two women are facing criminal charges after a 2-year-old was hospitalized for drug exposure on Friday in Aitkin County.

Yolanda Eagle Armendariz, 27, Cody Hunter Sam, 31, and Shannon Lee Eagle Nayquonabe, 45, are charged with first-degree drug sales, second-degree drug possession and five counts of child endangerment. Sam also faces additional charges for giving police a false name and violating a domestic abuse no contact order.

Court documents state that authorities learned shortly after 7 a.m. Friday that a child was exposed to an opioid and was airlifted to a hospital.

The child’s mother told deputies she’d picked the child up from his father’s place in Mille Lacs and brought him back to the home her mother rents. However, while getting him ready for bed, she noticed the child’s breathing didn’t sound normal.

A criminal complaint states that the woman’s sister, Armendariz, put the child in a car to drive him to a hospital but the mother had to call 911 within a few miles.

The Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office says the child was given naloxone and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the home later that day and found four or five other children, including a 2-year-old in a crib that was located near a plate of crushed fentanyl. The sheriff’s office says the children were taken into protective custody, and Armendariz, Sam and Nayquonabe were taken into custody.

A total of 304 M30 pills that tested positive for fentanyl were seized from the home, according to a complaint.

The first-degree drug charge carries up to 30 years in prison and the second-degree charge is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The other charges are gross misdemeanors that carry up to a year in jail.