Toddler’s parents charged after one-year-old boy overdosed on their drugs

The parents of a toddler have been charged with endangerment after the one-year-old boy experienced a suspected drug overdose in Hazlet, where a search turned up more than 1,000 Xanax tablets and other illegal substasnces.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said the child was revived by responding police officers and was in stable condition before being turned over to the custody of a relative.

Alexander Green, 28, and Rosalia Diasio, 23, are both charged with second-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child, while Green is also charged with numerous related second- and third-degree drug offenses.

Shortly before noon on Thursday, December 29, members of the Hazlet Police Department and Holmdel Township Police Department responded to the parking lot of a shopping plaza at Middle Road and Laurel Avenue on a report of a child undergoing a medical episode.

At that location, responding officers found the young victim suffering from a suspected opioid overdose; the officers administered naloxone to the child, reviving him, and transported him to a local hospital for emergency treatment.

A subsequent search of the defendants’ home resulted in the seizure of more than 1,000 suspected alprazolam pills, as well as quantities of suspected prescription amphetamines, crystal methamphetamine, heroin, ketamine, LSD, oxycodone, and psilocybin mushrooms.

Green was taken into custody without incident pending a detention hearing to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court, while Diasio was served the charges against her via a summons.

The child is in stable condition, and is now safely in the custody of a relative.

“As the national opioid epidemic has worsened, naloxone has become as much a fundamental component of a police officer’s daily toolkit as a flashlight or handcuffs – and yesterday’s events offer a textbook example of why that is,” Prosecutor Santiago said. “We recognize and commend these responding officers’ grace under pressure, which directly resulted in a young child’s life being saved.”

“A defining characteristic of the job of a police officer is never knowing what the next shift might have in store for you,” Hazlet Police Department Deputy Chief Robert Mulligan added. “These responding officers never could have known that they would be so suddenly thrust into a pressure-packed, life-or-death situation yesterday morning, and the calm, collected fashion in which they conducted themselves was nothing short of extraordinary. We couldn’t be prouder.”

This case is being prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Lavender. Information about these defendants’ legal representation was not immediately available.

Anyone with information about this or related matters is urged to contact MCPO Detective Jose I. Rodriguez at 800-533-7443 or Hazlet Police Department Detective Steven Venticinque at 732-264-6565.

Convictions on second-degree criminal charges can be punishable by up to 10 years in state prison.

Despite these charges, Santiago said every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.