A Lake Grove man has been sentenced for the near-fatal overdose of his infant son.
On January 13, 2024, members of the Suffolk County Police Department and the Ronkonkoma Fire Department responded to a 911 call reporting a nonresponsive infant on Colmar Avenue in Lake Grove. When they arrived, “John Doe,” an 11-month-old infant, had turned blue, his eyes were rolled toward the back of his head, and he was having extreme difficulty breathing.
Due to his serious condition, the ambulance that was transporting the boy to the hospital had to pull over during the transit so a MedCat Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) could board the ambulance to provide additional lifesaving care to the infant. The child had stopped breathing for an extended period of time on the way to Stony Brook University Hospital and had been unresponsive for approximately 40 minutes. The medics inside the ambulance determined that the symptoms the child was exhibiting were from opiate poisoning. They quickly acted and provided the baby with a quantity of Narcan in each nostril. Five minutes after the administration of Narcan, he took a full breath on his own and began to cry.
Once at the hospital, the 11-month-old child was diagnosed with acute fentanyl poisoning, hypoxia, and respiratory failure and required additional doses of Narcan in the Pediatric Emergency Room. After his admission to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the infant was placed on a Narcan drip in order to prevent recurrent respiratory failure due to the opioid poisoning. James Carr, 36, of Lake Grove, was arrested on the same day.
Suffolk County police officers conducted a search of the Lake Grove residence. Investigators recovered a straw containing cocaine, 4-ANPP (a precursor to fentanyl), heroin, and fentanyl residue, a digital scale containing cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl residue, and a plastic bag containing cocaine residue.
A review of phone data recovered from Carr’s phone revealed that, on January 4, 2024, and January 5, 2024, he was in contact with the separately convicted defendant Robert Mauro, 40, of Miller Place, where Mauro offered to sell narcotics to Carr. Mauro advertised the drugs to Carr as an “oz of fire that some kid od’d off of.” Over the next few days, Carr actively sought out the drugs from Mauro. On January 9, 2024, Mauro sold the drug to Carr, just four days before the infant ingested a near-fatal dose of fentanyl.
On January 29, 2024, while Suffolk County Police Department Fourth Squad detectives were conducting their investigation into Carr and Mauro, Homicide Squad detectives responded to a fatal overdose that occurred at a home in Patchogue. At that location, law enforcement recovered from the scene the 31-year-old overdose victim’s cell phone, and a quantity of fentanyl/4-ANPP. (The District Attorney’s Office is not naming the victim.)
A review of that victim’s phone data showed that she, too, had purchased narcotics from Mauro. This sale occurred on January 28, 2024. A further review of the data showed that on January 26, 2024, the victim texted Mauro that she had not used heroin in over a year and was concerned about the substance she was going to buy.
An autopsy conducted by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the female victim’s cause of death was acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, fluro fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, methoxyacytal fentanyl, xylazine, and buprenorphine. Mauro pleaded to Manslaughter in the Second Degree in October 2024. He was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison, which is the maximum sentence allowable under the law, and which will be followed by a period of two years post-release supervision once he is released.
On February 27, 2025, Carr was convicted after a jury trial heard before Acting Supreme Court Justice Philip Golgas, for Assault in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony, and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree, a Class A misdemeanor.
On April 7, 2025, Carr was sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison.
“It is nothing short of miraculous that first responders were able to revive this infant with Narcan,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “I continue to urge our legislators to pass the Death by Dealer statute, which would give us the tools needed to seek justice proportionate to the harm caused with enhanced penalties. No child should have to fight for her life because of exposure to these deadly substances, and no community should have to bury victims of this poison without proper justice being served.”