A Pennsylvania man was arrested on Monday and charged in his 8-week-old son’s death, nearly three years after the death was initially blamed on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Robert Jenkins has been charged with misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter, misdemeanor reckless endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia, felony aggravated assault, and felony endangering the welfare of children, according to the Altoona Police Department.
Police say they initially responded to the home on September 5, 2022, and found the infant dead. Jenkins told them he had placed the baby on a pillow on the couch, where the child fell asleep. He said he also fell asleep and woke up about an hour later to find the baby blue and unresponsive.
The preliminary investigation and autopsy attributed the death to SIDS, but months later, toxicology reports indicated the child had a blood alcohol content of 0.149 and methamphetamine in his system. The new results attributed the baby’s death to alcohol intoxication.
According to WJAC, Jenkins denied using amphetamine and accused the baby boy’s mother, who had a “no contact” order against her at the time, of “breaking into the residence” and feeding the child alcohol. The investigation determined that the mother had been nowhere near Jenkins’ residence, and doctors said the baby would have had to consume the alcohol shortly before he was found unresponsive to have that much alcohol in his system.
Jenkins also suggested that his sister was a drug user and that she likely touched the baby with drug residue on her hands, but investigators later learned that the sister had been clean and sober for years.
The Altoona Mirror reported that investigators found drug paraphernalia consistent with use of methamphetamines at the home, and a message on Jenkins’ Facebook Messenger account asking an acquaintance if he had “any up,” a common term used for meth.
After a lengthy investigation, detectives “determined that Jenkins was the sole adult present at the residence at the time of the incident and the only individual that could’ve administered the fatal dose of alcohol.”
He was arrested on Monday and ordered held on a $100,000 cash bail at the Blair County Prison.
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[Featured image: Robert Jenkins/Altoona Police Department]
