The Evidence That Not Everyone Is Prepared For Parenthood


Trial opens for Florida man accused of giving toddler heroin and cocaine



By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV

Shawn Edward Malsky has seen his share of jail cells, but his latest might be the last if he is found guilty of giving drugs to his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter.

Malsky faces up to 115 years if convicted of aggravated child abuse and delivering controlled substances to a minor for allegedly injecting his girlfriend's daughter with heroin and putting a lit crack pipe to her mouth.

Opening statements were set to begin Monday afternoon in Oakland County (Fla.) Circuit Court.

The incident is the third abuse allegation against Malsky in the past six years, preceded by two allegations of domestic violence from the defendant's former spouse, police records show.

On Oct. 31, 2003, Malsky's girlfriend, Megan Nantell, woke up to find Malsky and her daughter, Rylee, missing from her Port Charlotte home. She called Malsky's cellphone to discover he had taken the girl for a ride in his car.

After they returned, Nantell was getting her daughter ready for school when she noticed the preschooler's eyes rolling back. She also noticed that the girl appeared lethargic, according to a probable cause report.

"[Rylee] told her that the accused had a glass pipe with a tube sticking out of it. She advised that there was smoke coming from it and he put it in her mouth stating it would give her energy," the report says.

"Megan also noticed a puncture mark on her arm and [Rylee] stated that the accused gave her a shot," it says.

Nantell brought her daughter to the hospital and called police. The girl tested positive for opiates and cocaine, but survived the overdose, although her nervous system may have been permanently damaged.When police arrested Malsky, he claimed to have smoked pot in front of the girl that morning, telling her "it gave him energy," but he denied giving her narcotics.

Nantell was arrested with Malsky just a month earlier on charges of arson and auto theft for stealing, looting and torching a sport utility vehicle.

Originally from Massachusetts, 34-year-old Malsky has been arrested 30 times in Florida, on charges running the gamut from theft to drug possession to assault. He has 10 criminal convictions, including one for beating a woman with a pool cue.

In 1990, he was named a suspect in the murder of a Deep Creek, Fla., woman who died of multiple stab wounds from a penknife. The charges were dropped in 1995 because of lack of evidence, and the case remains unsolved.

Malsky's previous wife took out restraining orders against him on two separate occasions and accused him of domestic abuse on more than one occasion, before and after marrying him. They eventually separated.

After he was arrested, Nantell took out an order against Malsky barring him from contacting her from jail. He has since been in custody.

Malsky's lawyer, Paul Sullivan, declined comment on his client's defense strategy. Calls to the Oakland County Prosecutor John Burns were not returned.

Okay... what is there to think about? A 4 year old tested positive for heroin and cocaine. Seems like a no-brainer to me...

I've said it before, I'll say it again... the world is going to hell in a gasoline soaked hand basket.