Charges say twin babies fell critically ill after Minneapolis mom fed them fentanyl-tainted formula

A Minneapolis woman’s infant twins fell seriously ill after she fed them fentanyl-tainted formula, according to felony charges filed Wednesday.

Anghel Esperanza Brown, 25, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with three counts of child endangerment in connection with her babies being rushed by emergency medical responders from the family’s home to HCMC’s neonatal intensive care unit on Jan. 2.

Court records filed earlier pointed to the possibility that the fentanyl was put in the bottles purposely.

Another of Brown’s children, a 2-year-old boy, also had the potentially deadly opioid in his system, the charges read.

A warrant has been issued for Brown’s arrest. The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to Brown for her reaction to the charges.

Brown’s criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for theft and fleeing police. The father’s record includes convictions for a first-degree drug offense, drunken driving, domestic assault and disorderly conduct.

According to the criminal complaint, other court records and police:

Brown called police to the home in the 400 block of NE. Broadway to report a baby not breathing. Upon arrival at HCMC, the baby boy was treated with multiple doses of Narcan, an opioid antidote, and was revived.

Officers returned to the home on a welfare check and saw the other twin was “having trouble breathing and had vomited,” the charges read. She also was taken to HCMC and administered Narcan.

The twins' baby bottles were tested by police, and “liquid from each bottle field-tested positive for fentanyl,” the charges continued.

Brown explained to police that she was feeding her twins when one of them began struggling to breathe. She said she had used fentanyl in the past but not since the twins were born.

The mother gave birth on Nov. 2 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and declined a drug test after her twins showed signs of being born with illicit drugs in their systems. Medical personnel at Children’s Hospital Minneapolis treated their symptoms with morphine. On Nov. 5, the twins were suffering from withdrawal and placed on methadone.

Two weeks after giving birth, Brown told a child protection investigator that it was 21 weeks into her gestation before she realized she was pregnant. She said she then stopped using drugs but relapsed about a month to six weeks before giving birth.

A social worker learned from the mother on Dec. 20 that police raided the home that day on a report of drugs being sold out of the residence. Brown said officers found cocaine in a jacket that was not hers and agreed with the county the next day to have a relative move in as a caregiver.

A child protection investigator found out that it “was unlikely that the children would have been this sick if exposure was from [the mother] using and not washing her hands or changing their clothes before having contact with the children. ... It was more likely that the bottles or formula were directly exposed — for example, fentanyl being placed directly in the bottle for some reason, and the bottle not being rinsed out, or the children were intentionally exposed.”

When told of the twins testing positive for fentanyl, the mother had no response, nor did she offer an explanation for them being exposed, the child protection filing noted.