ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. — A York man will serve up to 10 years in prison after being convicted in April of several charges in connection to the death of his infant child in December 2022.
Brian Becker, 38, was sentenced to a prison term of 5-10 years Monday after an Adams County jury found him guilt of endangering the welfare of a child, according to prosecutors with the Adams County District Attorney's Office.
The jury found he was responsible for the child's death by suffocation in Menallen Township, prosecutors said.
An autopsy on 8-month-old Steven Becker in 2022 determined the baby died of asphyxia due to overlay, the term for a child being underneath someone with whom they are co-sleeping, authorities said.
The child's mother, Ashley Ackerman, pleaded guilty in April to endangering the welfare of a child in exchange for four years of probation and an agreement to testify against Becker.
According to the investigation of the child's death and testimony from Ackerman and other witnesses at trial, Ackerman and Becker were under the influence of drugs purchased in Philadelphia at the time of Steven Becker's death.
Ackerman said she and Becker traveled from Florida to Philadelphia by train the previous day and were sleeping with the child in the living room of a friend's home on the day the child died.
Ackerman said that she woke at 3:30 a.m. that day to go to a methadone clinic and was trying to change the baby's diaper when she discovered he was dead. The baby was stuck between the pillow and Becker's right shoulder, which was near the top of the bed, according to the criminal complaint affidavit filed in the case.
Police said both Ackerman and Becker appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance and suspected narcotics and drug paraphernalia were found on the bed.
Blood tests later found Ackerman had methadone, EDDP, fentanyl and norfetanyl in her system at the time of the child's death, while Becker had amphetamine, methamphetamine, methadone, fentanyl, norfentanyl and THC in his system, according to the complaints.
