Parents Arrested In Toddler Overdose In Wall: Prosecutor

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Wall Township couple is in the Monmouth County jail, charged with endangering the welfare of a child after their toddler overdosed on suspected opioids in the family home, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Wednesday.

Sharek White, 46, and Alexis Mistretta, 37, both of Wall, were charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The child was saved and is alert and being monitored at an area hospital, the office said.

On Monday night, Oct. 18, Wall police were called to a house on the 1100 block of 17th Avenue for a suspected overdose.

There the officers discovered an unresponsive toddler, nearly 2 years of age, with lifesaving efforts already in progress, the prosecutor's office said.

The lifesaving efforts continued as the child was rushed to a local hospital, where she is now alert and currently being monitored, the office said.

The child is believed to have been playing with items that had been exposed to opioid narcotics, the prosecutor said.

White and Mistretta are being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, pending a detention hearing on Oct. 24 before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon.

The case is a joint investigation with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Wall
Township Police Department.

If anyone has any information regarding this case, contact the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Jose I. Rodriguez at 800-533-7443 or Wall Township Police Detective Ty Hughes at 732-449-4500, ext. 1191.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Zanzuccki, director of the Special Victims Bureau.

Information on the legal representation for White and Mistretta was not immediately available.