{"id":230350,"date":"2026-05-13T19:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/230350\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:44:38","slug":"manhattan-man-sentenced-for-causing-his-toddler-sons-fatal-fentanyl-overdose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/230350\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhattan man sentenced for causing his toddler son\u2019s fatal fentanyl overdose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just before Anthony Rosa was hit with the maximum sentence of 7 1\/2 to 15 years in prison on May 13, he seemingly attempted to do everything in his power to delay the inevitable. Sitting before Judge Juan Merchan, he claimed he couldn\u2019t hear the proceedings due to health issues, then stated he couldn\u2019t see and needed glasses. However, when he was fitted with headphones, he didn\u2019t like what he heard, shaking his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the defendant\u2019s actions, Charlie Rosa would be alive today. He\u2019d be almost 7-years-old. He would be in first grade and excited for the summer. It is the defendant\u2019s actions and the defendant alone that stole this child\u2019s life,\u201d ADA Heather Buchanan said, chief of the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s child abuse bureau<\/a>. \u201cHe has blamed his child\u2019s death on everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Rosa was supervising his son in the waiting room of the hospital where the youngster\u2019s mother and Rosa\u2019s wife gave birth on June 16, 2021. After drinking from a blue baby bottle, authorities said, Rosa-Velloso, who had been playing earlier, became lethargic.<\/p>\n

Rosa took the child home at about 10 p.m. that evening. At about 3 a.m. the next morning, Rosa\u2019s wife texted him about the birth of their second son; prosecutors said he responded and then shared photos with family and friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But an hour later, according to court documents, Rosa alerted security at the shelter where he was saying that Charlie was unconscious and unresponsive. EMS were called to the scene and rushed Rosa-Velloso to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead two hours later.<\/p>\n

Tests of the bottle from which Rosa-Velloso had drunk were found to have cocaine and fentanyl. Fentanyl was also found in a water bottle next to the baby bottle in the youngster\u2019s stroller.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to my son was a freak accident; there were no drugs, I wasn\u2019t selling drugs,\u201d Rosa told the court. \u201cI didn\u2019t kill my son.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

These appeals fell on deaf ears, however, as prosecutors say that he not only discounted the dangers of the drug around his son but also blamed Administration for Children\u2019s Services (ACS) workers for his son\u2019s death. The judge remained unmoved.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe refused to take any responsibility,\u201d Judge Merchan said, handing down the maximum sentence of 7.5 to 15 years in state prison.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did Anthony Rosa ignore repeated warnings of the dangers associated with fentanyl use around children, he harassed concerned ACS workers and fought against their protocols and precautions every step of the way,\u201d Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said. \u201cBy doing so, his recklessness directly caused the death of his two-year-old son, Charlie. I thank my Office\u2019s Child Abuse Bureau for its pursuit of justice for Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosa\u2019s wife was present in the courtroom but refused to speak with amNewYork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just before Anthony Rosa was hit with the maximum sentence of 7 1\/2 to 15 years in prison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2803,303,59279,75,84,83,9,24,63,104],"class_list":["post-230350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-da-bragg","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}