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Maine woman accused of rubbing fentanyl on 1-year-old daughter's gums, leading to child's death

A Maine woman is accused of rubbing fentanyl residue on her 1-year-old daughter's gums to help her sleep, which caused the child's death nearly a year ago, according to court documents.

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Kimberly Nelligan, 33, of Bangor, was arrested Tuesday and charged with endangering the welfare of a child., the Bangor Daily News reported. Nelligan also faces a misdemeanor drug charge, WMTW reported.

According to court documents, Nelligan had also used fentanyl on her older children.

Nelligan called police Oct. 10, 2018, to report her baby was not breathing, the Daily News reported. First responders performed CPR on the child and took her to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead, WCSH reported.

According to detectives, the state medical examiner's office determined the cause of death was from probable toxic effects of fentanyl, WMTW reported.

In a police affidavit, the baby's father told detectives he had seen Nelligan rub the residue of the drug on her daughter's gums about 15 times, the Daily News reported.

Nelligan allegedly told the father she had done the same thing to her two older children when they were babies, according to the affidavit. She insisted she was not trying to injure the child.

“You know I didn’t hurt our daughter on purpose,” Nelligan allegedly said to the father, according to the affidavit.

Nelligan was taken to the Penobscot County Jail, WCSH reported. She is being held without bond, the television station reported.