Mother gets 3-6 years for infant's heroin death

A Delaware County woman has been sentenced to three to six years in prison in the heroin death of her infant son.

Christine Rivero, 29, of Collingdale, pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. She will also have to serve five years' probation.

At the time of 11-month-old Niccolo Varner's death last July 15, Rivero told police she had put him in a bathtub with his older brother and then gone into the backyard to snort heroin.

Her older son called to her to say the baby had hit his head, according to court records. She dried him off and kept him awake for 45 minutes to look for signs of concussion before putting him to bed. The next morning she found him unresponsive, and called police.

County officials said the child had ingested heroin that Rivero either gave him or left out for him to find.

The child had been under the supervision of the county Department of Children and Youth Services, according to the child's father. The baby was born addicted to heroin and had spent three months in a hospital.

On Feb. 28, a gag order was issued in the case prohibiting police, attorneys, witnesses, family members of the victims, and others involved from discussing it with members of the media, according to court records.