Falls Twp. Man, Langhorne Woman Guilty In Overdose Death Of 4-Month-Old Son

A Falls Township man and a Langhorne woman were found to be at fault for the overdose death of their 4-month-old son in 2022.

Daniel Scott Howarth, 26, of Falls Township, was found guilty Tuesday by Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Gilman following a two-day bench trail on charges of child endangerment, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Howarth was sentenced to one to two years in the Bucks County Correctional Facility. His time behind bars will be followed by five years of probation, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

The judge ordered that Howarth cannot be granted parole unless he enters a long-term drug treatment plan.

A bench trial, also known as a waiver trial, means that a defendant and prosecutor agree to waive a jury trial and have a judge decide.

Felicity Westmoreland, 24, of Langhorne, the baby’s mother, pleaded guilty in January to involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and related charges.

Westmoreland was sentenced Tuesday to 11 1/2 to 23 months in county jail. She also was sentenced three years of probation.

On the afternoon of January 7, Bensalem Township police were dispatched to a home in the 4900 block of Oak Avenue for a report of an infant in cardiac arrest. The 4-month-old boy was found unresponsive in the living room of the home where the baby’s grandmother lives, authorities said.

Responding officers and paramedics attempted life-saving measures and rushed the boy to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township.

The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.

According to authorities, an autopsy later revealed the presence of fentanyl in the boy’s blood and the cause of death was determined to be adverse effects of fentanyl.

Bucks County Detectives and Bensalem Township police investigators determined that Felicity Westmoreland, the baby’s mother, and Howarth, the baby’s father, were in the home when their child fatally overdoses.

Investigators found drug paraphernalia in a bedroom used by the two. It tested positive for the presence of fentanyl and cocaine, authorities said.

Officers and detectives testified at the trial. Body camera footage from the call and attempt to save the boy’s life was played in court, according to prosecutors.

Images presented as evidence showed the Oak Avenue home in disarray with trash, dirty dishes, and old food scattered about at the time of the incident. Drug baggies, syringes, and a tourniquet were inside the bedroom where the baby slept, prosecutors said.

The judge called the state of the home “one of the worst things I’ve seen in my life.”

Donna Westmoreland, 59, of Bensalem Township, the baby’s grandmother, pleaded no contest Monday to child endangerment. She was sentenced to one year of probation.

Donna Westmoreland had previously been appointed the baby’s foster mother, and the Bucks County Juvenile Dependency Court issued a shelter care order prohibiting the woman from leaving the baby unsupervised with Felicity Westmoreland and Howarth.

Prosecutors said she violated the court’s order by leaving the child unsupervised with his parents the day he died.

Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies

---

---