Couple Charged In Connection With Child’s Fentanyl Overdose Death

OKLAHOMA CITY – 

Attorney General John O’Connor has filed charges in Oklahoma County against a couple in connection with the death of their 6-year-old son.

Harold Belton, 47, and Grashaunda Brooks, 44, are each charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Investigators note that, on October 4, 2021, Belton took his son to the emergency room around 5:45 a.m. According to medical staff notes, the boy did not have a pulse when he arrived. Staff believed the boy had been deceased an hour or more, based on his body temperature at admission.

Belton told Oklahoma City Police Department detectives that, the night before, his son had stated that he did not feel well. Belton told detectives he got in bed with the boy, dozed off, and woke up around 2-3:00 a.m. because he felt something wet on his shoulder. Belton said the boy was unresponsive, had mucus coming out of his nose and mouth, and when he tried to pick him up, the boy’s head just drooped over.

A medical examiner said the probable cause of death was “Toxic Effects of Fentanyl” after finding 27 ng/mL of fentanyl in the 6-year-old’s blood.

After serving a search warrant, OCPD officers and detectives reported finding three blue tablets in a plastic pill bottle labeled for Brooks, the victim’s mother, hidden inside of a barbecue grill. The tablets were tested by the OCPD Lab and were determined to contain fentanyl. According to investigators, the tablets were counterfeited to mimic pharmaceutical oxycodone 30mg tablets.

In April of 2022, Drug Enforcement Administration agents were alerted of the death and began assisting OCPD with the investigation. Agents determined that Brooks currently, and at least for the year prior to her son’s death, had been prescribed oxycodone tablets but did not have a prescription for fentanyl.

The Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case.