Jun. 25—A Salem man faces up to six year in prison after pleading guilty this week to charges related to the drug overdose death of his one-year-old daughter in 2022.
The plea agreement reached in the case of 39-year-old Travis J. Schubel on Monday was just one of several cases related to fentanyl use that made its way through New London Superior Court this week.
Melissa Gregor, who is charged in a 2023 felony child abuse case in New London, and according to police a fentanyl user, was also in court this week and was led away in handcuffs for disobeying a judge’s order.
Schubel pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a minor as part of a plea agreement with state prosecutors. He will be sentenced on Sept. 5 to up to six years in prison but has a right to argue for a minimum sentence of four and a half years in prison.
Schubel and his wife were arrested after it was determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner their child died on Feb. 8, 2022, from an “acute intoxication due to Fentanyl and Xylazine.”
The child had been found unresponsive at the couple’s Salem home where police described deplorable living conditions with open containers of alcohol, drugs, needles and other paraphernalia strewn throughout the house, court records show. Schubel admitted the drugs were his.
Ricki J. Thomas, 30, the mother of the deceased girl who also faces manslaughter charge, was in court Tuesday. Held on a $750,000 bond, her case was continued until after Schubel is sentenced on Sept. 5.
In an unrelated case in New London, police investigating a Jan. 29, 2023 domestic assault complaint from Melissa Gregor against her husband entered a State Street apartment to find her three children living in what police called “squalid” and “inhumane” conditions. Gregor and her husband, police said, were fentanyl users and had been fighting over drugs.
Police said Gregor’s 10-year-old was found in a room with a deadbolt on the outside and the only contents in the room a blanket and plastic sheet. The child told police he had been abused for months by Gregor’s husband, hit repeatedly, locked in a closet and on at least one occasion “hogtied” and placed in a cabinet.
Gregor, who police said admitted she had taken her children out of school “to hide evidence of injuries,” faces seven felony charges including conspiracy to commit second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit cruelty to a child and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.
The the state Department of Children and Families removed the children from the home and they are now in the custody of a guardian.
New London Superior Court Judge John Newson on Tuesday raised Gregor’s bond after Newson said she essentially gave “the middle finger” to his previous court order to stay away from the guardian of her children.
Newson raised Gregor’s bond from $250,000 to $300,000 for allegedly uttering an expletive to the guardian in the hallway of courthouse shortly after her court appearance on June 17.
Gregor was handcuffed in the courtroom on Tuesday and led to a holding cell in tears despite the protest of her attorney, Adam Laben, who only recently was brought in to represent Gregor.
Judge Newson had issued a warning to Gregor on June 17 following complaints from the guardian of her children that Gregor was showing up at unrelated probate court proceedings and making comments or staring at the guardian.
Newson said Tuesday that one of the court’s victim services advocates had witnessed Gregor make a comment to the guardian “before you got to the door at the end of this hallway.”
“That requires action by the court,” Newson said.
Gregor is due back in court on Sept. 3. Her husband, Michael Gregor, remains held on a $750,000 bond on similar charges and is due back in court on Wednesday.
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