A Norristown couple will face a county judge on manslaughter charges in a 6-year-old’s fentanyl overdose

A Norristown woman and her boyfriend will now face a county judge in the death of her 6-year-old son, who overdosed on fentanyl and xylazine in July.

Kristen Sabatino, 31, and Matthew Santiago, 35, were charged in October with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors added a third charge, conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, at the couple’s preliminary hearing Thursday in Norristown. District Judge Todd Barnes held the two over on all charges after the hearing.

Norristown police responded to the couple’s home on Willow Street on July 16 for reports that Sabatino’s son, Dominic Lyons, was not breathing, according to prosecutors. At the home, police found Dominic cold to the touch and stiff on the floor of his second-floor bedroom. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Blood tests ordered by the county coroner to determine the boy’s cause of death revealed that he had high levels of fentanyl and xylazine in his system, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for Sabatino’s arrest. The latter narcotic is used by veterinarians to sedate animals but has become a common street drug called “tranq” used to cut heroin and fentanyl.

The amount of narcotics in the boy’s blood was so high, according to the coroner, that Dominic would have had to ingest the drugs, the affidavit said.

In interviews with detectives, Sabatino said that the night before his death, Dominic had been complaining of his eyes being itchy and feeling “shaky.” Because the boy had seasonal allergies, she gave him Benadryl and put him to bed. The next morning, she found him unresponsive and called 911.

Santiago’s attorney, Frank Genovese, said Thursday that prosecutors had failed to establish that his client had created a “pattern of behavior” that put Dominic at risk.

“There is no evidence in this record that he did anything, legal or illegal, involved in the death of this child,” Genovese said.

Meanwhile, Sabatino’s attorney, Carol Sweeney, cast doubt on the prosecutors’ case, saying they had failed to prove basic facts, including when exactly Dominic died. She also noted that the boy had spent time with his biological father hours before he complained of feeling ill.

“There were other contacts this child had,” Sweeney said. “We have no way of knowing what happened, and the Commonwealth can’t prove that.”

But Deputy District Attorney Brianna Ringwood said the evidence against the defendants was clear and abundant. They exchanged text messages explicitly planning to buy the same narcotics Dominic died from, and Santiago tested positive for them the next day.

“No one is saying that this was an intentional act or an outcome anyone wanted,” Ringwood said. “What we are saying is that their actions played a significant role in Dominic’s death.”

Sabatino told police investigating her son’s death that she had previously used heroin but had been clean for a year. Santiago was in recovery and had been taking methadone to assist in getting clean. Both denied purchasing drugs.

However, text messages that investigators retrieved from their cellphones showed that Sabatino had been complaining of feeling “dope sick” on July 10. She asked Santiago for his help in purchasing heroin on July 13, three days before Dominic was found dead.

The day after Dominic’s death, as officials from the Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth were investigating the case, the couple discussed via texts whether Santiago would pass a drug test, noting the last time he used drugs was July 13, according to testimony Thursday.

Santiago did test positive for methadone, which he was taking at the time, but later tested positive for fentanyl when a more detailed test was requested, investigators said. Sabatino tested negative, though investigators testified Thursday that they were unable to administer that more advanced test to her sample because it had been discarded.

Sabatino had been previously arrested for drug possession, including in 2017, when police in Upper Providence Township found her overdosed on heroin with her head resting on the then-infant Dominic’s chest, according to the evidence presented Thursday. Officers revived her with naloxone.

She later pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to seven years’ probation.

At the time of Dominic’s death, Sabatino was already under supervision from the county office of children and youth for a 2022 incident in which she overdosed on oxycodone while driving and caused a crash. Sabatino’s then 13-month-old daughter, whom she had with Santiago, was in the car at the time. Sabatino’s criminal charges related to that case were later withdrawn, court records show. The couple’s daughter was not with them at the time Dominic died.

The couple will be arraigned in county court in the coming weeks.