Leta Cha sentenced to 2 years in prison after being convicted of child neglect

Leta Cha



MILWAUKEE -- Leta Cha was sentenced on Thursday, Nov. 14 to two years in prison and another two years of extended supervision. Cha pleaded guilty in September to child neglect after prosecutors said her 5-year-old son ended up at Children’s Wisconsin with methadone in his system.

According to a criminal complaint, on Jan. 28, police responded to Children’s Wisconsin, where a doctor indicated a 5-year-old tested positive for methadone. This, after the child arrived at the hospital unresponsive and not breathing. After multiple doses of Narcan were delivered, the child was able to breathe on his own, however, the complaint said the child “periodically stopped breathing and needed additional doses” of Narcan.

The boy had to be admitted to the hospital, where he received a continuous drip of Narcan while the methadone was exiting his system.

The complaint said “exposure to methadone (an opioid) places a child at significant risk for great bodily harm as even a single dose can cause death.”

According to the complaint, the boy told investigators “his mommy” had “given him some medicine” and he had “an owie.” The complaint noted the boy wasn’t able to explain what happened.

Cha told investigators “she is a recovering addict and takes methadone” which she gets weekly from a clinic. She said she keeps it in a lock box. She said on the morning of Jan. 28, she was trying to clean out her bottles so she could get them refilled and “may have left them unattended.”