Aunt of Drowned Monroe NJ Boy Charged

PRESS RELEASE
August 10 , 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

Felicia Tucker (DOB 3/22/85) of 1446 12th Avenue in Monroe Township NJ, has been charged with second-degree endangering of a child in connection with the death by drowning of her 2 ½ year-old nephew, who she was looking after when he left the house on the evening of August 1 and who eventually was found in a nearby lake.

Tucker was arrested Tuesday (8/9) and released on her own recognizance.

The complaint by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said Tucker, who shared the Victory Lakes home with the boy’s family, was responsible for his care at the time of the offense and caused him to be an endangered child “by allowing him to leave the residence and drown.” The boy, who investigators were told was autistic, was found by Tucker and a friend in a lake near the house in three feet of water. Tucker called police after finding the front door open and the boy missing. After nearly two hours on a respirator at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Washington Township, NJ, he was pronounced dead shortly after 11 p.m. on 8/1/11.