New Hampshire mom Felicia Farruggia (29,pictured left) has been sentenced to a year in jail for demanding that her friend Rhianna Frenette inject her with heroin and meth while she was giving birth to her baby boy last September. She asked that no one so much as call 911 until they’d given her some illegal pain relief.
Frennette said that she complied with her friend’s child endangering request because, “I’m a people pleaser.” Although Farruggia was begging for heroin, meth was the drug she was injected with – possibly because it may have been the only drug available in the home at the time.
According to police, 37-year old Frenette “attempted to inject Farruggia with an unsanitary syringe at least once before she successfully delivered a dose of the drug.” Firefighters responded to the eventual 911 call, but only got her as far as an ambulance before she delivered the baby. She had waited too long in her labor to seek medical help. Both Farruggia and her infant spent days in the hospital after birth, and the child was taken in by the state. She also has “multiple” other children in currently in state custody.
In court Wednesday Farrugia owned up to her reckless behavior. “I have no excuse for the sad and horrific events that led up to the birth of my son on Sept. 15, 2016,” she said. “I am, however, fortunate to be standing here today before you, not only alive and well, but a different person. Most importantly, for the life of my child. Addiction is a horrible disease, one that I will spend the rest of my life fighting.”
Farrugia plead guilty to reckless conduct and will possibly get out early if she agrees to attend a drug counseling program. Frenette, who has been charged with two counts of reckless conduct, is still awaiting trial. Their defense attorneys were able to reduce their charges down to misdemeanors by arguing that a syringe filled with drugs shouldn’t be considered a deadly weapon.
PHOTO CREDIT: CONCORD NH POLICE
