Children cry for parents to wake up after Boynton Beach couple overdose

Andrew Otto, Lauren James arrested on child neglect charges

Andrew Otto and Lauren James were arrested on child neglect charges after police say an officer found their children crying for them to wake up after they overdosed in their Boynton Beach home.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A South Florida couple overdosed and passed out in their home, leaving their two children to try to wake them up, police said.

Andrew Otto and Lauren James were arrested Friday on child neglect charges.

Recommended Videos



According to a Boynton Beach probable cause affidavit, police received a call from a man who said he was overdosing.

"OK, how old are you?" the 911 dispatcher told the caller.

"I don't know," the man answered.

"You don't know how old you are?" the dispatcher asked.

"No," the man replied.

"OK, do you know when your birthday is?" the dispatcher asked.

"No," the man said.

The 911 dispatcher could hear the man's heavy breathing and heard a child in the background saying, "Wake up."

When the first officer arrived at the scene, he wasn't able to get anyone to answer the door and could hear children crying and screaming, "Wake up."

The officer entered the home through an unlocked door and found the couple unresponsive on a bedroom floor. There were also two children on the bed, "still crying for their parents to wake up," the affidavit said.

The officer got the children out of the room as paramedics tried to resuscitate the couple. 

According to the affidavit, homemade hypodermic needles and several bags of white powder were found in the room. The powder later tested positive for heroin and fentanyl.

"The apartment was in disarray and was filthy," the affidavit said. "There were cockroaches alive and dead throughout the apartment."

The officer said one of the children told him that he hadn't eaten "in several days" and the children appeared to have not been bathed in days.

"There was almost no food in the residence and the water had been shut off," the affidavit said.

Otto and James were then taken to JFK Medical Center and then booked into a Palm Beach County jail. They were released on $6,000 bond each.