A Prior Lake man has pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment in Scott County Court for giving his 2-month-old child a Valium pill to fall alsleep on Aug. 3, 2006.

Jonathon Scott Lemley pleaded guilty April 19. According to the criminal complaint, Prior Lake Det. Chris Olson received a report from a child-protection worker that Lemley’s child had been brought into Children’s Hospital and Clinics in Minneapolis because the child was lethargic and failed to respond to pain stimuli.

It was reported that Lemley’s child had been ill for about three days with symptoms including increased irritability, sleeping longer than normal and a decrease in breast feeding.

Tests revealed benzodiazepine in the baby’s body. Valium is a derivative of benzodiazepine.

According to the criminal complaint, Lemley told Olson that he had come home on July 29 and his child was fussy, so he put a 10-milligram pill of Valium under the baby’s tongue to dissolve. Lemley scooped out the dissolved pill with his finger and then placed his finger back into the baby’s mouth.

A physical abuse consultation report stated that “benzodiazepines are respiratory depressants that can slow or even stop a baby’s breathing, having serious or fatal consequences.”

Lemley will be sentenced on July 13. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

   --Shawn Hogendorf