Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Ohio parents charged after Boy OD’s on heroin

Episode Date: February 22, 2017

Two Ohio parents face child endangerment and drug charges after their eight-year-old son nearly died from a heroin overdose in their home. Emergency room workers found a bag of heroin and prescription pills stuffed in a toy watch in the boy’s sock, according to police. Nancy Grace and Alan Duke share the father’s dramatic 911 call and discuss the destructive heroin epidemic in this episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. 9-1-1. For some reason, my son's not breathing. How old is he? He's trapped in a babe. I don't think he's breathing. Seven years old, not breathing in Berea. They live in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. They live in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simcoe are charged with child endangerment and drug possession.

Hospital staff found a small bag of heroin and prescription pills tucked into his sock. A urine test showed there was evidence of heroin in the boy's system. Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simcoe pled not guilty to child endangering during a video arraignment. Okay, stay on the phone with me, okay? Please hurry. Do you guys want to do CPR? Uh, yeah. A father, frantic, calls 911 to save his 8-year-old little boy.

EMTs race to the scene to try and save the child. What happened? Did he go underwater in the bathtub? Did he fall down the steps? Did he choke on a hot dog? What? What went wrong? No.

The 8-year-old little boy the EMTs tried to save had an overdose of heroin. An overdose of heroin. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. And I want justice. And right off the bat, I want to thank SimpliSafe Home Alarm Systems for sponsoring our podcast today. SimpliSafe, go to simplisafe.com slash Nancy.

Get another 10% off your awesome home security system. And now, the story. I'm talking about Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simcoe. These two, these parents, stand by. Their son stops breathing. The eight-year-old child desperately attended to by EMTs. Guess what else they found? Prescription pills and a bag of heroin stuffed in the boy's sock. The dad says he admits to taking drugs in the house earlier that day.

Police find drugs and syringes strewn about the home. The parents of this little eight-year-old boy. Many people arguing this isn't their fault. I say BS. We have to throw the book at them. Throw the book. Do I want this boy in foster care? No, I do not.

Do I want him sent away, raised by people, not his own family? No, I do not. Do you know how much it would kill me, kill me, to think my children were being raised by strangers, although they may be loving and caring or maybe not? But no, this is not okay. This little boy OD'd on heroin. If you could see the mug shots of these two.

Not a tear in their eyes. Both parents allegedly high. I wish you could see them in court. I mean, they're sitting, the dad's sitting there looking all surly with his arms crossed. The mom not shedding a tear. You know, they don't care. And look, I get it. Drug addiction is horrible. Alcohol addiction, horrible. It's like you can't beat it. But you bring a child into the scenario and the child ODs on heroin. Despite the EMT's best efforts, nothing could stop this child from ODing on heroin. The dad says, I think he was sleeping, and I think what happened was he rolled over, and I don't think he could breathe. I think it was just like in the pillow, and he suffocated.

Oh, really? Well, that's not what the blood tests show. He also tells the police dispatcher his son was seven. The boy is eight. My children are nine. Their DOB is 11-0-4-0-7. The happiest day of my life. He doesn't even know how old his child is. Paramedics arrive. The boy was rushed to Southwest General Medical Center. That's where they find out he had OD'd on heroin. Hospital staff, not police, found the pills and the heroin hidden inside a toy watch in the boy's sock, according to WKYC. Hospital staff. So there's not going to be a claim at trial that the police planted this evidence. And they don't even need that evidence at trial. The boys' blood and urine tell it all. I don't need the toy watch stuffed with prescription pills and heroin. The Duke, Alan Duke, joining me. You

know what, Alan? John David, my son, collects watches. Okay. They can be the ones from McDonald's Santa brought him one for Christmas that had the Joker on the front and he has all kind of crazy watches that you know come in Happy Meal toys and this and that and he loves everyone dearly he likes to take things apart and put them back together the The thought never occurred to me. Hey, that's an awesome place to stash my heroin and stick it in my son's sock. What's up with that? Heroin? That's all you've got to say. Yeah. What's up with that? Yeah. It's bizarre.

No, it's not just bizarre, Alan. It is a crime. It is a crime. This is, in my mind, an extreme and aggravated, aggravated assault on a child. You know, and here we are in the suburbs, a nice little white house painted with the American flag in the front. Oh, yeah. The American flag's hanging in the front. The lawn is nice and green and mowed and trimmed. And it's not just daddy. It's not just daddy. Mommy too. Okay, Alan, I'm expecting a little more from you than, wow, that's bizarre. You know what? You need to go have another bowl of granola. Okay. Don't eat that. It's all of grits this morning morning don't even try to placate me okay i'm not listening if you're not po'd about this then i'm very po'd about it i'm flying to california and kicking your

booty all over the house that should be fun listening to the 911 call convinces me that yes this father despite being apparently a drug addict and being a very irresponsible parent, does care and love for his child. Because you hear the panic and you hear the concern. Despite all of that, you hear this on this audio. Let's play that right now. But before we play the 911 call, I want to thank SimpliSafe for making today's podcast possible. SimpliSafe, you're awesome. And if you notice, I do not endorse anything or suggest anything that I don't think is right. Never. All my years on HLN, CNN, Court TV. I was never paid to have any type of an opinion. I got to say exactly what I believed,

and I'm doing that right now. I believe in what we're doing on Crime Stories. I believe these cases are important. And I also believe in SimpliSafe. I think it's a great, great product. And I mean that. I would never want my name associated with something that I don't think is right. People think they can't afford home security.

SimpliSafe is $14.99 a month, minus the 10% discount if you go to SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy. It is not attached to your landline or your cell phone. Nobody can cut your lines and ruin your home security. And it's easy. I swear. Now, granted, John David is a maniac. He can do anything with the TV, the computer, the phone. He could put this thing together in 20 minutes flat.

I know he could. So if he can do it, that means I could do it. Maybe not as quickly. But there's a video online. They do it in like 10 minutes. Hey, simply say thank you for sponsoring us. Now, I want to go back, Alan, where we were about this 911 call. I managed to calm down for a moment.

Okay. Catching my breath here. Let's hear the 911. Okay. Don't get me too jacked up. I've only had two cups of tea already. Okay. So go. Let's hear the 911. Okay, don't get me too jacked up. I've only had two cups of tea already. Okay, so go. Let's hear it.

911, what's the address of your emergency? What's the address, babe? 141 Milton. 144 Milton. Okay, what's going on there? For some reason, my son's not breathing. How old is he? He's seven.

Babe, I don't think he's breathing. Seven years old, not breathing in Berea. Yes. 144 Milton Street. Yes, please hurry. Okay, stay on the phone with me, okay? Please hurry. Do you guys want to do CPR?

Uh, yes. Okay, do you know how to do it, or do you need me to give you directions? No, he isn't, babe. He's not breathing. Move, move. I got him. Hold on. I'm going to put that speaker on.

Okay. Hello? Hello? 911? Yes, I just called. I'm sorry. Okay, that's okay. Is he not breathing for sure? Yes, he's not breathing. Okay, you want to start CPR? Yes.

Okay. Is he choking on anything? I think he was sleeping, and I think what happened is he rolled over, and I don't think he could breathe. I think he was, like, in the pillow, and he was, like, suffocated. Okay, can you get him flat on his back on the floor or on a hard surface? On a hard surface on the floor? Yeah. Okay, go ahead. Okay, put the heel of your hand on the center of his chest, right between his nipples. Okay. And then put your other hand on top of that and push down hard and fast at least two inches in depth. Okay. And just keep doing that. Try to pump twice every second for at least 100 compressions per minute. Is he making any kind of noise?

Yes. He is? Yes. Okay, put your face down to his mouth and see if he's breathing. No. What kind of noise is he making? I'm sorry, like a what noise? A huffing noise. Does he kind of sound like he's gurgling? Yeah. Okay, keep doing the compressions. And if you get tired, if there's somebody there that can take over when you get tired, but just keep doing it.

The squad should be there any minute. Open the door. They're here, ma'am. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and hang up. Open the door. They're here, ma'am. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and hang up. Keep doing it until they walk in, okay? All right, bye-bye.

Yeah, he sounds frantic. Yes, he cares. But mommy and daddy didn't care enough to get the heroin out of the house so their kid couldn't get it. Eight years old. Eight! You know what, Alan? You were looking at this neighborhood and you had the same immediate reaction that I did. Tell me. It's a beautiful, clean neighborhood. Every house practically on this street has an American flag

on the front door. The very house. Now, I got the address off the police report, which we have a copy of, and I'm looking at it. The lawn is manicured. It's just a lovely place, you would think, to bring up a little kid. He's got a yard to play in. It is a safe-looking area. Okay. Now, listen, I want to tell you something else. Okay, my husband David is a deal guy. He's a business major, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's what he does. He owns a small business. A guy that he was doing business with, really nice family, you know, no problems ever that we know of.

All the kids went to a fancy school. You know, they were in church every Sunday, never had a peep of trouble, beautiful home, lovely wife. The son was an athlete in school, you know, varsity athlete. Bam, he OD'd on heroin. No clue. And it's the new cocaine. It's like taking over. It's scary, scary. I'm trying my best, Alan, and judge me. Judge me if you want. Mock me if you want.

I'm trying to brainwash the children now about drugs and alcohol. And let me tell you how I started. I never let them watch the HLN show. So one night, I turned it on mute, a replay of it on mute, and let them see a portion of it where I knew there'd be nothing like, you know, dead bodies or anything gruesome. On Ethan Couch, the affluenzatine that I believe it went, he killed four people driving drunk and permanently paralyzed a fifth. And as part of my effort, I let them see. I said, this kid, you know, was driving drunk. He had drank alcohol. And that's what happened. So I'm

trying to brainwash them now. So, you know, when the time comes and people at school or wherever they may be offer them drugs or alcohol, they have the backbone to say no until they're an adult. And if they want to drink alcohol as an adult, you know, I can't stop that, but I can try to stop it now. So I'm just sick about this. I'm just sick about it. Let's hope this heroin and fentanyl thing passes. But let me tell you how bad it's getting. Just in the neighborhood. It's fentanyl. Fentanyl.

You know what? You got to get down with it, Duke. Fentanyl. What are you reading out of, like, what is the book with all the medications? I wouldn't know how to order this from my drug dealer. Fentanyl. Fentanyl. Fentanyl. Let's hope that this heroin and fentanyl thing passes before long because it has gotten so bad. I'm looking at the statistics from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Medical Examiner's Office.

They had 64 people die of overdoses in 2011. 2016, it's over 500. This is how bad it was in January when this incident happened. The first four days of January, they had 24 overdose deaths in that county. They had as many as 57. They're still waiting on toxicology tests. 57 for the whole month. One weekend last month, they had 14 overdose deaths from these drugs in this one county you know this

suburb is just a little southwest of cleveland where they find the child unresponsive in the living room and his father over him doing chest compressions the boy was immediately raised to the hospital these two drugs and syringes, all over the property, acted like they had no idea what had happened. In fact, the dad told police he and Simcoe, the wife, the mother, had been in bed with their son when they noticed his lips were turning blue. Okay, the 911 call, as you heard, is horrible to hear. He's pleading frantically and shouting at a nearby woman, yelling, hurry, hurry, move, move. And I do think that he cares. I'm not saying he doesn't care for his son. He, I believe, cares for his son. It's just that he has heroin and syringes in the home and is stashing heroin in his son's sock.

So he can't have the children back. He can't have any children in the home, period. Right now, they're both charged with child endangerment. They're being held on $150,000 bond translation $15,000 because that's all you got to put up 10% they were arraigned and charged so what is going to happen now what's going to before we get into the big picture of the heroin epidemic in our country what are we going to do with these two? What will happen to them?

They were in court yesterday for their arraignment. They were indicted by a grand jury last week. But not only child endangerment, but they also face, appropriately enough, a drug charge. Well, the thing about arraignment, and arraignment, it sounds so formal. What it is is after you have been formally indicted by a grand jury. A grand jury is simply a group of citizens, usually voters, in my old jurisdiction

where I presented to the grand jury. There were about 43 or so people in there. We would meet two times a week, and I'd present somewhere between 150 and 200 cases a morning. You only have to put up one witness. It can be the cop on the scene. Hearsay is allowed. And they only have one decision, true bill or no bill. Is there just enough evidence for this to go to a pettit jury, which is a jury of six or 12, to make a decision.

They can hear a case in five minutes. The cop comes in and goes, this is what we found. There's no, they can ask questions if they want to. But this is not adjudicating someone guilty or innocent. It's a threshold decision. Is there enough, are there enough facts just for this to go to a jury to decide and they are then the part if it is a true bill they go the person goes to arraignment which means they go in front of a judge and they are formally read the indictment in open court if they have a lawyer

the lawyers there if they cannot afford one the state gives them a lawyer free of charge. Do we know anything about these parents, Alan? Were there priors on them? Had they been in trouble before? Yes. I don't know what the charge was, but I'm looking at the police report that was filed after the incident, and the father was also detained in custody on a prior felony warrant from another jurisdiction. I don't know what that was about. Here's another clue from the police report. They confiscated a spoon with mac and cheese. Now, is that a clue as to how this child might have ingested this heroin? A spoon with mac and cheese?

Of course, they found the drugs in his sock, in his watch, and had a spoon with mac and cheese. So I can just imagine somehow this child got heroin in his mac and cheese. It had to be enough to OD him, though. I mean, I don't know that it was just in the mac and cheese. It had to be enough to OD him. Well, you can't imagine that they actually used a syringe on this child. I mean, this was not something that they intended to happen, obviously, from what you hear on the 911 call. And it doesn't even sound like the dad knew why his son's lips were turning blue.

Look, Alan, you're leading me to say something. I don't mean to sound like I have no empathy for people on drugs. When I was prosecuting, I tried everything I could with no money. The system has no money. The politicians make sure they suck up all the money for rehab, to go to a clinic, a lockdown clinic where they can't get away and they have to go through rehab. I tried everything there was to help addicts, and there was precious little in our criminal justice system. I mean, in our country, the greatest country in the world, the money.

Politicians love to announce this new anti-drug law and that new, and, oh, we're fighting the war on drugs. They say that, and they do pass the laws, but they don't fund them. So they can pass a law for there to be a new rehab clinic in every county in your state. But if they don't give it any money out of their fat cat budget, then it never happens. The laws just sit on the books. And so many times the way people would have to wait in jail nine months, 10 months, a year before they could get a spot in a clinic or a halfway house where they could get drug treatment. And they'd rather just

take, you know, a year in jail and be out in five months. You know, I couldn't stop them. Now, if they were dealing, if they had more than a couple of hits, if they had a gun with them, they'd have to go to jail. Bam, end of story. Can't help that. But if they were a user with them they'd have to go to jail bam end of story can't help that but if they were a user I would try everything to get them help so to me depending on their record I think these parents need help badly to get off heroin I don't think they meant this to happen to their child I don't know if jail is the right answer for them, but I know that they can't have their kid back. I mean, we can't gamble with the future of a child hoping the parent can rehabilitate. I mean, just think that your drug addiction cost you your child

forever, forever. Never will you have it again. You'll never put it to bed. You'll never give it a bath. You'll never take it to school. nothing, no more Christmas, Easter, nothing is over, just like that, bam, you lost your child, I don't think I could live with it, I do not think I could live with it, I always say, just go lay me on the railroad track and call the train, I just can't, could not live if anything happened to my children, I don't know. When they come down off their heroin high and they realize that they don't have their son anymore. Gosh, what a punishment, Alan. What a horrible punishment. I'm trying to think what to add to that.

Well, with that, why don't we end? Because there's nothing to say after that. Yeah, they need jail. Yeah, but just the thought of losing your child forever. I mean, maybe they don't care. I don't know. But when I listen to that 911 call, I think he does care. I think they do care.

They're addicts. I don't know the answer, and I don't have the answer. But I know this. They're going to be separated from their child forever, which to me would be a living hell. You know, maybe they don't care. Gosh. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, along with Alan Duke, signing off for today. Again, thank you for being with us. Goodbye, friend.

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