June 25, 2023 / By mobanmarket
NORCO, CA — A 31-year-old Norco mother was behind bars Wednesday on suspicion of killing her toddler, and fentanyl is believed to have played a role, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced.
Jennifer Johanna Allen was being held at Riverside’s Robert Presley Detention Center in lieu of $1 million bail following her arrest Tuesday afternoon in Norco.
According to a sheriff’s department news release, deputies were called to the 100 block of 8th Street in Norco at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday about a 17-month-old girl. When deputies arrived, the child was not breathing.
Deputies and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department crews performed live-saving measures, but the child could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s department reported.
Sheriff’s investigators believe the death was suspicious.
“During the course of the investigation, evidence was obtained showing fentanyl played a role in the juvenile’s death,” according to the sheriff’s department.
Further details were not provided. Allen has no felony convictions in Riverside County, according to court records.
Riverside County has been aggressive in pursuing murder charges in fentanyl investigations that involve death. More than 20 cases are pending countywide, although authorities argue more prosecutions could occur if California had legal tools in place.
State legislators on both sides of the aisle have tried to get a law in place that would allow prosecutors to file second-degree murder charges under the “Watson murder rule” in some fentanyl deaths.
The rule, if passed into law, would require that a fentanyl distributor convicted on any first offense related to the drug receive a written warning. The signed paperwork would ensure a paper trail proving a convict knows that providing fentanyl to another person is dangerous to human life and could lead to death. A similar rule exists for convicted drunken drivers.
The investigation into Allen is continuing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Investigator Adams of the Central Homicide Unit at 951-955–2777.
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