A Carbondale woman smoked embalming fluid-laced marijuana the night her 2-month-old son son died in her bed in July, police said, and now she faces charges in the death.
Thalia Matos, 28, was charged involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, namely her son, Royce Coxton.
Carbondale police responded to 185 Fallbrook St., Apt. 303, on July 14 on a report of an unresponsive infant, according to a criminal complaint. The baby was pronounced dead at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton. Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland listed the cause of death as “asphyxia due to mechanical compression due to co-sleeping” and ruled the manner of death as homicide.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said Matos was impaired after consuming marijuana allegedly laced with embalming fluid or formaldehyde. That, combined with unsafe sleeping practices, created a substantial and unjustifiable risk to the child’s life.
Matos’ conduct also constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care required of a caregiver responsible for the safety and welfare of an infant, and that this negligence directly contributed to the child’s death, investigators allege.
“We approach co-sleeping death investigations with compassion and empathy for all involved,” Gallagher said. “However, when a parent chooses to co-sleep while impaired by marijuana or other controlled substances, that decision creates an unacceptable risk to a child. Protecting children must remain the foremost responsibility.”
Matos — who told investigators she put Royce, in her bed along with her 5-year-old daughter, and eventually slept in the bed with both of them — informed Det. Tim Mackrell she was the sole caregiver for her son.
Matos stated she woke up at 3 a.m. to feed Royce and placed him back in the bed, however investigators learned there was nothing in his stomach following a forensic exam, police said.
During an interview with investigators at the hospital, Matos admitted using marijuana and vaping inside her home. She initially refused to submit to any chemical testing, but later voluntarily submitted to a drug and alcohol blood test, investigators said.
Investigators found a marijuana cigarette — that appeared to be discolored — in the kitchen area and a purse containing a small black bag with marijuana rolling papers and a stainless-steel stem on a couch, police said. Detectives learned that adding formaldehyde to rolling papers of marijuana cigarettes will discolor them, according to the criminal complaint.
Additionally, a detective noted people spray marijuana, or synthetic marijuana, with embalming fluid as a way of furthering intoxication from the substance, police said.
Detectives viewed photographs taken shortly after Royce was admitted to the hospital that showed lividity — the pooling of blood following death — on the left side of the baby’s face and blanching — a mark indicative of pressure placed against a part of the body prior to death for an extended period of time — on his back near the shoulder blades, according to the criminal complaint.
The marks are indicative of the child being dead while lying on his left side with pressure on his back, investigators said.
Ashley Matos told investigators that her sister, Thalia Matos, put Royce to bed around 11 p.m. and then went downstairs, police said.
Then, Ashley Matos said she and Thalia Matos smoked one marijuana blunt and drank alcohol slushies, according to the criminal complaint. The results of a chemical test indicated Thalia Matos had THC — the main psychoactive compound in marijuana — and formic acid in her system.
Matos was arraigned and released on $40,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 17 at 10 a.m.