Just before Anthony Rosa was hit with the maximum sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison on May 13, he seemingly attempted to do everything in his power to delay the inevitable. Sitting before Judge Juan Merchan, he claimed he couldn’t hear the proceedings due to health issues, then stated he couldn’t see and needed glasses. However, when he was fitted with headphones, he didn’t like what he heard, shaking his head.
“If it wasn’t for the defendant’s actions, Charlie Rosa would be alive today. He’d be almost 7-years-old. He would be in first grade and excited for the summer. It is the defendant’s actions and the defendant alone that stole this child’s life,” ADA Heather Buchanan said, chief of the Manhattan District Attorney’s child abuse bureau. “He has blamed his child’s death on everyone else.”
Prosecutors said Rosa was supervising his son in the waiting room of the hospital where the youngster’s mother and Rosa’s wife gave birth on June 16, 2021. After drinking from a blue baby bottle, authorities said, Rosa-Velloso, who had been playing earlier, became lethargic.
Rosa took the child home at about 10 p.m. that evening. At about 3 a.m. the next morning, Rosa’s wife texted him about the birth of their second son; prosecutors said he responded and then shared photos with family and friends.
But an hour later, according to court documents, Rosa alerted security at the shelter where he was saying that Charlie was unconscious and unresponsive. EMS were called to the scene and rushed Rosa-Velloso to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead two hours later.
Tests of the bottle from which Rosa-Velloso had drunk were found to have cocaine and fentanyl. Fentanyl was also found in a water bottle next to the baby bottle in the youngster’s stroller.
“What happened to my son was a freak accident; there were no drugs, I wasn’t selling drugs,” Rosa told the court. “I didn’t kill my son.”
These appeals fell on deaf ears, however, as prosecutors say that he not only discounted the dangers of the drug around his son but also blamed Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) workers for his son’s death. The judge remained unmoved.
“He refused to take any responsibility,” Judge Merchan said, handing down the maximum sentence of 7.5 to 15 years in state prison.
“Not only did Anthony Rosa ignore repeated warnings of the dangers associated with fentanyl use around children, he harassed concerned ACS workers and fought against their protocols and precautions every step of the way,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said. “By doing so, his recklessness directly caused the death of his two-year-old son, Charlie. I thank my Office’s Child Abuse Bureau for its pursuit of justice for Charlie.”
Rosa’s wife was present in the courtroom but refused to speak with amNewYork.
