Mansfield father sentenced to 20 years after toddler's fatal fentanyl overdose

DALLAS - A 28-year-old Mansfield man has pleaded guilty to injury to a child causing serious bodily injury to his two-year-old child and has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

2-year-old Mansfield girl overdoses in father's apartment

The backstory:

Reed has been convicted of knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a child. His sister and roommate at the time, Jamie Popovic, was charged with abandoning and endangering a child.

Investigators say Reed waited two hours before calling police after his 2-year-old daughter Nevaeh ingested fentanyl-laced pills.

The backstory:

Mansfield police were called to an apartment on Towne Crossing Boulevard just after 10 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2024, for an unresponsive child. Paramedics performed CPR on Nevaeh before taking her to a nearby hospital. She was declared brain-dead 10 days later and died at the hospital.

Reed told police he had fallen asleep in the apartment and woke up to find the child limp and lying on the floor with labored breathing, according to an arrest affidavit.

"He attempted to order Naloxone on DoorDash"

According to investigators, Reed later admitted he had not called 911 right away. Instead, he searched online for how to make a child throw up around 8:13 p.m. and tried to do it himself. He also attempted to order Naloxone on DoorDash, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.

Popovic, Navaeh's aunt, told police she had urged Reed to call 911 earlier, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to lose custody of his children. She also reported seeing blue and white pills around the apartment at the time of the incident.

A third adult in the home, Anthony McDonald, told officers Nevaeh had walked into his room around 8 p.m. "covered in powder." He later heard commotion when Popovic was trying to wake Reed up, saying the child was unresponsive. 

McDonald also tried to make her vomit and said he was aware she was injured because she appeared limp with her head bent backward.

Hours later, Reed called 911 when Nevaeh stopped breathing. When first responders arrived, investigators say he did not tell EMS she may have overdosed. 

What they're saying:

Staphanie Waller, Navaeh's mother, spoke at the Tarrant County court Monday.

"I just hope that every day he wakes up and sees her face and remembers her," Waller said. "She can't speak. She can't speak for herself. Only I can speak for her and I'm going to always speak for her."

Those were the first words Waller said to Reed before his 20-year sentence began. 

"That's why I really wanted to go to trial. I wanted everyone to see all the evidence, all the facts out there," Waller said.

Waller is still shaken by the state of Reed's apartment where her daughter overdosed. 

"It eats me up. Why did you send her over there? I know I didn't do anything wrong," Waller said.

Finally, Waller said, she feels peace about the case. 

"I'm just happy that something is happening. That's all I can do. I am going to keep pushing for her and keep going for her," Waller said. 

Investigators find syringes, fentanyl-laced pills

Dig deeper:

Inside the apartment, officers found two pills on a desk, a strong odor of marijuana, two burnt marijuana cigarettes, and a syringe on the coffee table. They also found what they believed was a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl on the living room floor, just a few feet from where Popovic said she picked up Nevaeh. Investigators said the pill tested positive for fentanyl.

Investigators say they also found a loaded gun in a kitchen cabinet the child had access to.

The trial for Reed was pushed back numerous times.

Dig deeper:

Jamie Popovic was sentenced to 60 months of probation in March, according to court records.

MansfieldCrime and Public Safety