ESTE ANGELITO MURIO DE UNA SOBREDOSIS DE COCAINA EN EL BRONX NY. SOBRINA DE LUIS POLONIA

OTRA TRAJEDIA SHERLYN POLONIA LES PARECE FAMILIAR ESE APELLIDO. ESTA DULSURA ES HIJA DE JOSE POLONIA HERMANO DEL TORPEDERO AGUILUCHO LUIS POLONIA

January 27, 2006 -- BX. TOT EATS COKE, DIES

A 2-year-old niece of former Yankee player Luis Polonia died after swallowing cocaine left around her Bronx apartment by her mother's suspected-drug-dealer boyfriend, police said.
Relatives of Sherlyn Polonia said yesterday they were appalled when investigators broke the horrific news to them.
"I couldn't believe it when they told us that the reason the baby died was because there was cocaine in her blood," said the little girl's great-uncle, Abel Almontes. "We never expected this to happen in our family."
He said Sherlyn's father, Jose Polonia, lives in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and is the brother of outfielder Luis Polonia, who retired after the 2000 season.
Luis Polonia, who was playing in the Dominican Winter League playoffs this week, could not be reached for comment.
Sherlyn died Wednesday after being rushed unconscious to Montefiore Hospital. That night, after a hospital test revealed the presence of cocaine in her urine, police searched her mother's Bainbridge Avenue apartment and found more than four ounces of the drug in the bedroom, a police official said.
Cops arrested Sherlyn's mother, Johanna Bare, 23, and her boyfriend, Johnny Carvajal, 47, on charges of drug possession, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment. They were held without bail at their arraignment early today.
Robin Steinberg, the lawyer representing Bare, called the case "a tragic accident."
"This is not Nixzmary Brown," she said.
The Medical Examiner's Office classified the cause of death as undetermined, pending toxicological tests.
Police said Carvajal had at least two prior drug arrests.
"He is a drug dealer, and she [Bare] knew about it," said a law-enforcement official.
Almontes said investigators told him that Carvajal admitted some glassine packets of cocaine had fallen out of his pocket.
The city's Administration for Children's Services said it had never received child-abuse complaints about the family.