A Hillsboro man who called 911 to ask if it was “OK to give a baby Narcan” as his 2-year-old daughter was overdosing on fentanyl that he and the girl’s mother had acquired was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday.
Bret Mitchell Hollmann, 31, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to third-degree assault and unlawful possession of a controlled substance for seriously injuring the girl, who survived after first responders administered two adult-sized doses of naloxone — the generic name for Narcan — and workers at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center gave her a full-day Narcan intravenous drip.
Senior Judge Gregory Silver dismissed a charge of first-degree criminal mistreatment as part of the plea agreement in Washington County Circuit Court.
The girl’s mother, 28-year-old Megan Elizabeth Meek, also is charged with first-degree criminal mistreatment, as well as second-degree assault. Second-degree assault is a Measure 11 crime that upon conviction calls for a minimum of nearly six years in prison. Meek has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in April.
The toddler’s overdose was one of a stunning number of such overdoses that came to light last year in the greater Portland area, as the repercussions of the ballooning fentanyl crisis ripple into the lives of the region’s youngest residents. Last summer, Portland police said a record nine children in the city overdosed on fentanyl and five of them died. The victims included three 1-year-olds, a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old.
Prosecutors say the Hillsboro 2-year-old’s parents – Hollmann and Meek – had spent the morning of March 13, 2023, buying fentanyl in downtown Portland and then smoking it. The couple, with their daughter in tow, then stopped at a Dollar Tree to purchase a package of wet wipes.
As they were driving toward a babysitter’s home in Beaverton, they realized the girl had eaten an unknown number of fentanyl pills that the girl’s mother had left commingled with cookies and other snacks in a fanny pack in the back seat of their car, where the girl was sitting, according to court papers filed by the prosecution.
The couple pulled over and called 911. It was there, on the side of the road, that police arrived to find the toddler on the ground, sprawled across a baby blanket. She was not breathing and had no pulse.
The couple screamed out, “She needs her stomach pumped!” according to court papers.
Court papers paint a picture of a couple in an agonizing struggle with their addiction. Police said they found fentanyl pills, fentanyl shavings and a partially burnt pill on aluminum foil scattered around the back seat of the car, including underneath the girl’s car seat and on the floorboard below the seat.
While the toddler was receiving an IV drip of Narcan at the hospital, prosecutors say Hollmann was discovered in a bathroom smoking fentanyl.
It wasn’t until about two months later that a grand jury indicted the couple. Prosecutors say the pair avoided apprehension for more than a week, until someone called police after spotting them apparently high on opiates and slumped over in their car in the drive-thru of a Sonic burger fast-food restaurant in Hillsboro.
As officers drove Hollmann to jail, Hollmann said he’d ingested multiple fentanyl fills, and he started foaming at the mouth and refused Narcan, police said. Officers drove him to a hospital in Hillsboro, where several hours later he tore out his IV and ran, according to court papers.
Police gave chase through downtown Hillsboro, ordering him to stop. Hollmann ultimately was captured, but only after officers threatened to tase him, police said.
Hollmann was charged with third-degree escape, but that charge was dismissed Thursday as part of the plea deal.
A spokesperson for the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said that, although Hollman was sentenced to four years in prison, he could be released in about 27 months because of credit for time he’s already served, time off for good behavior and reductions through an alternative-incarceration program.
District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Stephen Mayer said Hollmann also will receive drug treatment while on two years of post-prison supervision.
It’s unclear who has custody of the couple’s daughter because child-welfare records are confidential.
Court papers state that if Hollmann wants to see his daughter, he must receive permission first from prison officials and the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) while in prison. And once out, he’ll need permission from DHS and his post-prison supervision officer.
District Attorney Kevin Barton said the case should act as impetus for the Legislature to pass reforms to the state’s drug decriminalization law, Measure 110, during its short session this month and next. Barton is a big backer of changes that he says should help reduce the number of drug addicted people and save lives.
“This case is yet one more reason, in a long and growing list of reasons, why lawmakers need to fix Oregon’s drug addiction and decriminalization crisis,” Barton said.
