Spokane Valley Police Department arrested Briana Smutz for multiple felonies related to her child’s fentanyl overdose. She faces serious charges including Assault and Child Abandonment.
Spokane, WA. — Detectives with the Spokane Valley Police Department, working with the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, arrested a woman on December 3 who was wanted on multiple felony charges connected to the fentanyl overdose of her 2-year-old child.
Briana Smutz was taken into custody without incident near North Argonne Road and Grace Road after investigators developed information about her whereabouts the previous day. Smutz was wanted on a Stevens County Superior Court warrant for Assault of a Child in the Third Degree–Domestic Violence (Position of Trust, Vulnerable Victim), Abandonment of a Dependent Person in the First Degree–Domestic Violence (Position of Trust, Vulnerable Victim), and Possession of Fentanyl with Intent to Deliver.
The charges stem from an incident in which a toddler was exposed to fentanyl pills allegedly belonging to Smutz. The child began showing symptoms consistent with a fentanyl overdose before emergency medical personnel administered Narcan and transported the child by ambulance from Loon Lake to a Spokane-area hospital. Authorities say Smutz did not remain with the child and left before deputies could interview her…