A West Scranton man faces five years in state prison for his involvement in the death of his 8-month-old son while under the influence of marijuana.
On Tuesday, Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse sentenced Reginald Rollins, 25, to 2½ to five years in state prison.
According to the city police investigation launched when they found the dead boy in August 2012, Mr. Rollins smoked marijuana, then got into bed with the boy. When he woke up and found his child dead, he put the boy in a crib to make it appear as though he had died there.
The boy died because of asphyxia, which happened when Mr. Rollins accidentally rolled on top of his child while sleeping, city police said.
Mr. Rollins knew or at least should have known the child was not breathing and chose to put the boy in a crib rather than do what he should have done, call 911, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge said.
"By the time they (EMTs) got there the baby was already gone," Miss McCambridge said.
He pleaded guilty in March to one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor grade offense. The child's death was ruled accidental. Charges of recklessly endangering another person and tampering with physical evidence filed against him by city police were later dropped.
Emergency personnel were not called until after the boy's mother came back home, Miss McCambridge said.
According to city police, Mr. Rollins said he "was afraid that he would get in trouble for the baby's death."
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