Charles Dowdy Danielle Simko

Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simko are set to appear in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court after police said their 7-year-old son overdosed on heroin inside their Berea home.

(Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Berea couple is jailed on felony charges after police said their 7-year-old son overdosed on heroin.

Charles Dowdy and Danielle Simko, both 31, are set to appear in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Friday after a grand jury this week handed up endangering children and drug possession charges.

Both have been held on $150,000 bond since they first appeared in Berea Municipal Court in connection with the boy's Jan. 11 overdose that was not fatal.

The case comes as authorities across Cuyahoga County, Ohio and the nation continue to struggle to contain a scourge of heroin and fentanyl overdoses.

Dowdy, the boy's father, told police that he, Simko and the boy were lying in bed about 10:30 p.m. in their home on Milton Street, off Prospect Road near the Strongsville border.

Dowdy said he woke up and noticed the boy had stopped breathing and his lips were turning blue, records say. He dialed 911.

The officer met Simko outside and they went into the house. Dowdy frantically compressing the boy's chest in an attempt to resuscitate him, police said.

The officer took over and checked the boy for a pulse. He found one and stopped the compressions, records say. An ambulance showed up within minutes and rushed the boy to Southwest General Medical Center.

It was at the hospital that officers first learned what happened to boy.

Hospital employees found a baggie of heroin and prescription pills tucked inside the boy's sock, records say.

Police questioned Dowdy, who admitted to using drugs in the house earlier in the day, records say.

Police arrested Dowdy and Simko at the hospital.

Dowdy is represented by the Cuyahoga County Public Defender's Office. Simko was assigned Gary Seewald, who did not immediately return a call for comment.

The death-rate for heroin, fentanyl and other opiate deaths have skyrocketed from 64 in 2011 to at least 517 in 2016, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office.

The office tallied 46 fatal heroin and fentanyl overdose cases in January, and Cleveland police marked 14 suspected fatal opiate overdoses in a single weekend earlier this month.

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