Police in the tiny Tarrant County town of Lakeside are searching for a couple after four children under the age of 10 tested positive for fentanyl, a discovery made during a joint investigation with child welfare authorities. Investigators want to question 34-year-old Auston Patrick Green and 27-year-old Cindy Cristina Chevez Batres, who now face multiple counts of child endangerment.
The Lakeside Police Department and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services launched a joint investigation before ordering medical testing on the children, according to WFAA. That testing confirmed all four children, each under 10 years old, had fentanyl in their systems. As reported by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Lakeside police have not said what prompted the original investigation.
Green and Chevez Batres are both wanted for questioning by Lakeside police investigators. Anyone who knows their whereabouts, or who has had contact with either of them, is asked to contact Lakeside police. The department has directed tipsters to call the West Comm non-emergency dispatch line at 817-246-4973 or dial 911, per a notice from the Lakeside Police Department.
How Texas Law Treats a Positive Toxicology Result
The case lands the couple in serious legal jeopardy under Texas Penal Code § 22.041, which generally classifies child endangerment as a state jail felony carrying 180 days to two years in state jail and fines up to $10,000 for placing a child younger than 15 in imminent danger, according to FindLaw. Penalties can escalate to higher felony degrees if a child is abandoned without intent to return or placed in extreme peril.
Under statutory presumptions tied to that same code section, child endangerment occurs when a caregiver introduces a controlled substance into their own body around a child, or when a child tests positive for illicit substances such as methamphetamine or fentanyl due to accessibility, the legal resource Saputo Toufexis notes. The Texas Legislature updated those presumptions in 2025 to explicitly include Penalty Group 1-B synthetic opioids like fentanyl alongside methamphetamine.
Texas law also requires anyone who suspects child abuse, neglect, or exposure to dangerous environments to report it immediately, either to local police or through the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services operates that statewide intake line 24 hours a day.
A Broader Crackdown Across North Texas
The Lakeside case arrives amid a sweeping legal crackdown on fentanyl across the state. In June 2023, Texas enacted House Bill 6, which reclassified fentanyl under Penalty Group 1-B, increased penalties for manufacturing and distribution, and enabled prosecutors to pursue murder charges for fatal fentanyl deliveries, according to The Texas Tribune. The law also required state death certificates to specifically classify fentanyl-related deaths as fentanyl toxicity or fentanyl poisoning.
Tarrant County prosecutors have shown they are willing to use that toughened legal framework. In June 2025, the county secured a life sentence in its first fentanyl murder trial conducted under the 2023 drug enforcement statutes, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth reported, reflecting a countywide priority on fentanyl distribution investigations.
The Lakeside case also fits into a documented pattern of pediatric fentanyl exposure in the region. Cook Children's Medical Center reported that North Texas Poison Control data showed four children aged 12 and under and 11 teenagers suffered reported fentanyl ingestions in Tarrant County between 2018 and 2022, amid a 400% surge in regional fentanyl deaths from 2019 to 2020. Pediatric emergency physicians have emphasized that even microscopic amounts of synthetic opioids can cause swift respiratory failure in young children.
That local trend mirrors a nationwide spike. A 2024 study led by Oregon Health & Science University and published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that U.S. poison centers managed 539 cases of illicit fentanyl exposure in children under 6 years old in 2023, up from 120 in 2020 and just 10 in 2016. Researchers note most accidental pediatric exposures happen when caregivers leave pills or powder residue within a child's reach.
A Small Town With a Recent String of Alarming Cases
Lakeside is a small incorporated municipality in western Tarrant County situated along Lake Worth, roughly 11 miles northwest of Fort Worth, with a 2020 population of just 1,649 spread across 1.5 square miles, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The town is served by the Azle Independent School District and maintains its own municipal police department despite its size.
This is not the first unsettling case out of Lakeside in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a speeding stop that ended in a bomb squad response after a high-speed traffic stop uncovered illegal weapons, and on a separate case in which a GPS trail led officers to a mother and child who feared for their safety. As of now, key questions in the fentanyl case remain unanswered — including what first triggered the joint investigation, whether the four children required hospitalization, and where Green and Chevez Batres might be hiding. Lakeside police have not disclosed those details publicly.
