A father pleaded not guilty Friday to charges in the death of his 4-month-old son, who died after being given adult sleep medication in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2019, prosecutors said.
Isaac Villalobos, 35, pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment of a child, assault and battery of a child leading to substantial injury and assault with a dangerous weapon on a child, according to a statement from the Northwest District Attorney's Office.
Villalobos was indicted last week after a three-year investigation into the death of his son early in the morning of Sept. 15, 2019, after receiving a fatal dose of an adult sleep medicine administered with an infant syringe, prosecutors said.
The state medical examiner determined the cause of death to be acute intoxication of doxylamine, an antihistamine found in common over-the-counter sleep aids.
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At the time, Villalobos — who also goes by the name Angel Carattini-Rivera — lived in Amherst with the infant, the baby's mother, and her other children. The mother was at work at the time the medication was administered, prosecutors have said.
Villalobos, who was represented by defense attorney Alan M. Rubin of Northampton Public Counsel Services, had bail set at $250,000 in cash, prosecutors said. He's set to appear in court again on Sept. 12.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
