'God forgive me': Police accuse Albany mom of giving methadone to 3-month-old son

ALBANY, Ore. — Police accuse a mom from Albany of giving methadone to her 3-month-old son to help him sleep. Investigators believe the baby stopped breathing for as long as 14 minutes.

The baby was treated and released from the hospital.

But his mother, Magan McDermott, 34, is now behind bars facing multiple criminal charges, as first reported by the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Methadone, a potentially deadly drug, is a synthetic opioid commonly prescribed for severe pain or to help treat opioid addiction.

Police say a prescription bottle of the medication found at the crime scene with McDermott's name on it said ingesting methadone, "May be FATAL to any person other than to whom prescribed.'"

At about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24, officers were called to a home on Orchard Heights Avenue Northwest in Albany.

Police Captain Brad Liles told KATU the aunt of a 3-month-old boy told dispatchers the baby was not breathing. She said she discovered the boy's mother, McDermott, gave him methadone.

"It's highly toxic to people who aren't prescribed it or even who to those who are in the right doses," Liles said.

McDermott's sister told police at the time McDermott was visiting her baby and his father, who had custody, at her home.

"We learned that Albany Fire had provided a NARCAN or naloxone dose to the baby to bring it out of a potential overdose," Liles said. "It simply reverses the effect of the opiate-based product."

Officers said the baby regained consciousness and started crying before paramedics took him to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland. He was discharged on Nov. 26.

Police said McDermott left the house before they arrived. A court document says her sister showed investigators text messages McDermott sent soon after she left saying, "Tell them it's methadone in his system. I'm so sorry just wanted to help him sleep ..." and, "God forgive me."

McDermott was arrested five days later.

In a Benton County courtroom, she pleaded not guilty to four felonies the next day including causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, delivery of methadone, first-degree criminal mistreatment and third-degree assault. Her bail is now set at $320,000.

"It's sad that we're in a position to have to respond to infants or children or people who cannot care for themselves being in dire emergency," said Liles.

KATU discovered McDermott has a lengthy criminal record including past convictions for multiple counts of theft, methamphetamine possession and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor.

She also lost custody of two older children, one of whom reportedly died while in foster care according to a lawsuit, as first reported by the Oregonian.

"Children should not be exposed to this," Capt. Liles explained.

He said as disturbing as the methadone case is, it doesn't surprise him.

"After years of seeing what folks will do under the influence or in certain circumstances ... it's not surprising that we have to treat many different people in many different ages," Liles told a KATU reporter.

Statewide Oregon Health Authority says prescriptions for methadone are down from around eight per 1,000 people for pain six years ago to about four per 1,000 this year.