Mom sentenced in Petaluma overdose death of her son

A Santa Rosa mother was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for abandoning her unconscious 16-year-old son in the back of a truck when he could not be revived from a deadly overdose of heroin and other drugs.

Danielle Foernsler, 35, received the maximum sentence from Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo, who called the woman’s actions “especially callous,” the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said.

Family and friends packed the courtroom Tuesday to share stories of grief and outrage that followed the April 16 death of Brayden George.

Foernsler, also known as Danielle Falleto, pleaded no contest in July to negligently contributing to the death of her son. She was on felony probation for two prior robbery convictions when the boy died, which added time to her sentence.

“We concur with the court’s comments regarding the callousness exhibited by the defendant in this case. She has shown herself to be a poor probation candidate and is well deserving of a lengthy prison term,” District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a statement.

In an email Wednesday, a relative said the boy’s grandparents declined to comment on the judge’s ruling. She described the grandparents as being “emotionally wiped out.”

Foernsler ingested drugs with her son the night of his death at the home of an acquaintance, Robert Harrison, who had offered to let them stay in his Petaluma rental home for a few nights, police and prosecutors said.

Investigators said Foernsler was transient and some relatives claimed her son had been kicked out of another family member’s home, which put him in harm’s way. The mother’s attorney, Lynette Brown, said Foernsler never had custody of her son and that it was unclear where he had been living at the time of his death.

Prosecutors said Foernsler was asleep in a bedroom when Harrison noticed the boy was having problems breathing and tried to revive him. After awaking Foernsler, they put George in a shower in an attempt to treat him, police said.

Foernsler and Harrison then carried the boy to a pickup truck outside the Vallejo Street home, ostensibly to bring him to a hospital, while Harrison’s roommate called 911. Foernsler ran away before police arrived, prosecutors said, and was arrested later that day.

George was pronounced dead at Petaluma Valley Hospital. A toxicology analysis of his body showed he died of acute intoxication after ingesting a combination of fentanyl, heroin, Xanax and methamphetamine, Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

Harrison was also arrested and faces charges for felony drug possession and drug intoxication near a loaded firearm. A gun was found in a garbage can outside the Petaluma home by police, along with a laptop briefcase and a needle filed with an unidentified substance, officers said.

Harrison is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 17.

Tuesday’s decision came five days after Foernsler refused to leave her jail cell for a previously scheduled sentencing hearing, a move considered rare for defendants during such a crucial point in a case.

The postponement left the boy’s father and grandfather, joined by roughly two dozen grieving relatives and friends who attended the Thursday sentencing hearing, upset and without a resolution in the case. Some had traveled from as far as Redding and Grass Valley to attend the hearing.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203.