News

Nov 21, 2023

Two Beaver Falls women facing charges after children eat marijuana gummies

BEAVER FALLS – Two city women were charged this week with child endangerment

BEAVER FALLS – Two city women were charged this week with child endangerment after a girl was left unresponsive late last year after she and her sister consumed marijuana gummies.

The children's mother, 32-year-old Desiree Lavette, and their grandmother, 50-year-old Nicole Lavette, are facing a list of abuse charges after a police investigation revealed the two children had consumed the gummies inside the family's Beaver Falls apartment in November 2022. During the investigation, police discovered the two adults had instructed the children to lie to officers that the drugs were found on a nearby basketball court.

Police began investigating the incident after responding to reports of an unresponsive 3-year-old child. When officers arrived at the apartment, they were informed the unresponsive child and her 11-year-old sibling had consumed marijuana gummies. At the time, Desiree Lavette told officers the children had found three red gummies with sugar toppings outside and the youngest girl had consumed two of the gummies.

Officers say they administered Narcan to the child, who then opened her eyes and was immediately taken to the intensive care unit at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. According to reports from hospital staff and Beaver County Children and Youth Services, the child remained unresponsive for approximately 30 hours and the incident was listed as a "near fatality." Drug testing revealed the gummies contained marijuana, with a detailed report later listing cocaine also being present in the child's system.

After the incident, child services told police the Lavettes had given conflicting stories about the events that night and further interviews obtained by investigators revealed additional conflicting details. Investigators continued to obtain reports until April 13, when officers interviewed the older child about the incident, where she informed officers the gummies were found inside the apartment.

According to the child, her sister had started to "act crazy" the night she consumed the gummies, running around and attempting to throw up. The younger child then slept for a long period of time and when the Lavettes had attempted to wake the girl she would not stay awake. The women attempted to put the child in the shower to wake her up, but she began to scream and continued to fall back asleep.

The girl told officers during this interview that she had lied in earlier interviews about the gummies because the Lavettes had told her that Desiree would lose her younger sister and go to jail.

Desiree Lavette faces two felony charges of child endangerment, as well as misdemeanors for obstruction of a child abuse investigation, false reports of child abuse and intimidation. Nicole Lavette faces one felony count and one misdemeanor count of child endangerment, as well as misdemeanors for obstruction of a child abuse investigation, false reports of child abuse and intimidation, according to court records.