A Stockton father of a baby who died after being exposed to fentanyl was sentenced to 11 years in prison, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Dominique Gray, 31, received the maximum sentence Thursday after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his toddler daughter, who ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl on April 27, 2022.
According to investigators, the girl was four days shy of her second birthday when she was brought to the hospital unresponsive after failing to wake up from her afternoon nap. Stockton police detectives determined that Gray left a fentanyl pill within her reach, prosecutors said.
Gray became addicted to opiates after being prescribed them following an injury, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
When a search warrant was served at his residence in the 2300 block of North Marine Avenue in Stockton, fentanyl-containing substances and paraphernalia were recovered, authorities said.
Two other adults and their 5-month-old child were also present during the search and were arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment.
“Losing a child so full of promise breaks my heart,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement announcing the sentencing. “This case reminds us how one reckless moment can shatter lives.”