Jury convicts Ronan man of exposing his child to fentanyl

A Lake County jury found a Ronan man guilty of negligent homicide in the death of his child due to fentanyl exposure. The trial for Nyibe Jordan Nguyen, 26, began in District Court in Polson Monday, Dec. 16. The jury began deliberations around 4 p.m. Tuesday and reached their guilty verdict by 10:30 Wednesday morning.

The mother of the child, Roberta Hammer, 23, was convicted of negligent homicide by way of a plea agreement. She was sentenced in District Court in Polson Oct. 17 to the Montana State Women’s Prison for 15 years with 10 years suspended. Judge John A. Mercer presided over both cases and set sentencing for Nguyen on Jan. 3.

Lori Adams with the Lake County Attorney’s Office served as prosecutor. Nguyen was represented by Brian Owens and Kennan Gallagher with the Montana Public Defender’s Office.

According to court records, on Sept. 16, 2023, Hammer and Nguyen brought the child to St. Luke Hospital in Ronan. The boy was declared dead 50 minutes after arriving.

A deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded and went through the “Sudden Unexplained Infant Death” form with the parents, who were still at the hospital. They told the deputy the child “put himself to nap” at about 5 p.m., and Hammer noticed the boy was unresponsive about two hours later.

An autopsy later determined the boy’s cause of death was “acute fentanyl intoxication.”

Nguyen told investigators that Hammer had recently received her “18” money from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and spent some of it on fentanyl. Nguyen initially denied that he and Hammer used anything but marijuana in the residence.

When confronted with a drug test showing he had used methamphetamine and fentanyl, he admitted that he used fentanyl in the residence. During a second interview with Hammer, she admitted that people had smoked fentanyl at the residence at least 100 times. Both gave “inconsistent versions of who, where and when they and other people smoked fentanyl in their residence.”

Nguyen remains in the Lake County Jail until sentencing.