Woman accused of providing fentanyl to 11-year-old daughter dies in custody of the Kitsap County Jail
A woman being held in the Kitsap County Jail after being accused Friday of smoking fentanyl pills with her 11-year-old daughter, leading to the girl's overdose death in May, died Monday after being found unresponsive.
Stephanie Ann Melton, 40, died at St. Michael Medical Center.
During her arraignment Friday on a charge of controlled substance homicide for Riley Melton's death in May, Melton appeared by video in Kitsap County Superior Court wearing a smock worn by inmates who are lodged in single-occupant "crisis cells." Melton pleaded not guilty to the charge and shook her head when the allegations were read in court.
In their social media post announcing Melton's death, sheriff’s office officials did not disclose where in the jail Melton was being housed.
The post says an officer found the woman unresponsive Monday morning and attempted to give the woman “life-saving measures” until medics from South Kitsap Fire and Rescue arrived.
According to a witness named in the Port Orchard police investigation into Riley's death, Melton said she is the girl’s mother and preferred Riley use drugs with her so she could keep an eye on her. The witness said they had been smoking percocet pills that may have been counterfeit.
“Stephanie broke up the blue pills, held the foil and worked the lighter while (the witness) and Riley took multiple hits of the pill,” a detective wrote of the witness' statement. “(The witness) stated she had gotten mad at Stephanie before for allowing Riley to smoke but was told she’s the mother and would rather have her do it at home rather than do it on the street or somewhere she can’t be watched.”
In charging documents, investigators included Facebook messages from Melton and others, which allegedly showed Melton seeking more pills after Riley's overdose and asking the witness if she was “keeping things to yourself.”
“I’m just saying keep to yourself no matter what you understand,” Melton wrote, according to court documents. Further, Melton allegedly wrote to another person that the witness “has to take things to her grave cuz I will deny everything.”
The Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team is investigating Melton's death. The team is made up of fellow Kitsap County law enforcement officers and had investigated what the Kitsap County Coroner declared a “homicide” by corrections officers of a mentally ill murder suspect in May 2020.
That investigation, led by Washington State Patrol detectives, found that jail officers were not properly trained on using a restraint device blamed for suffocating Sean Michael Howell, 28. Howell had been jailed for the murder of his girlfriend, Sabrina Olson-Smith, 23.
In March, attorneys for Kitsap County and the family of a woman who in 2017 was able to hang herself twice in the jail within 24 hours quietly settled a lawsuit for $4 million. Tessa Nall suffered permanent brain damage on her second attempt to hang herself shortly after being released from a single-occupant “crisis cell” meant for suicidal inmates.
As part of the settlement, attorneys included requirements that parties to the lawsuit not discuss the case with the media.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Woman dies in custody of the Kitsap County Jail
