A woman in Seffner was arrested on Monday for aggravated child abuse and neglect after her 19-month-old baby was brought to the hospital with several broken bones.
BREAKING NEWS: Mom Arrested After Toddler Brought To Hospital With Broken Back, Ribs, Arm, Leg, Internal Bleeding
Medical workers determined that the injuries came from physical abuse that has been continued for at least two months, based on different stages of recovery and acute injuries.
On Monday around 11 p.m., Veronica Rivera-Cruz, 21, brought her 19-month-old child to Brandon Regional Hospital for a swelling on the child’s left leg. When hospital staff, along with medical personnel from the Child Protection Team, assessed the child’s injuries, they found the following injuries:
- Multiple bruises across the forehead which they believed were several days old
- A black eye with observable hemorrhaging to the white of her eye
- Bruising on the right cheek, blister inside the mouth
- A fracture on the right elbow, another on both right forearm bones which appeared to have been recovering for 2-4 weeks
- An severe displaced spiral fracture on the left femur bone
- Fractures along the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th ribs which appeared to have been recovering for 2-4 weeks
- A posterior fracture of the right side of the 9th or 10th rib
- A fracture to the left tibia which appeared to have been recovering for 6-8 weeks
- Fractured deformities on the spine humorous bone which appeared to have been recovering for 2-4 weeks
- A fracture on the victim’s periorbital bone
- A racture to the left humorous bone which appeared to have been recovering for 6-8 weeks
- A fracture to the victim’s right ulna bone
- Internal bleeding
In total, medical staff located wounds at four different stages of recovery on the victim’s body, leading them to suspect that abuse had been occurring consistently for at least two months.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, during a non-custodial interview, Rivera-Cruz admitted that she might be “a litle too rough” while changing the victim’s diaper on Monday night, which she believed may have caused the femur fracture. This occurred at their home in Seffner. In addition, the mother told the officers she believed she might be the one causing the rib fractures of the victim as well.
Rivera Cruz’s roommate witnessed on several occasions that the child appeared to be in pain or have visible injuries and had told the defendant numerous time to take the child for medical services. “However, the defendant failed to provide any medical attention for the victim that any prudent person would consider essential to the child’s well-being,” the affidavit reads.
According to deputies, as a result of the Rivera-Cruz’s neglection, the little girl had to endure daily live with numerous fractures all over her body. The victim’s old fractures in her left arm had already started to recover, which caused the child to have a deformed left arm, medical professionals pointed out.
In addition, doctors located within the victim’s abdomen several bleeding, which might have been caused by lacerated liver or intestine. The health worker emphasized that should the injuries continued to go untreated, it could have resulted in the victim’s death.
Rivera-Cruz was charged with 4-counts of Felony Aggravated Child Abuse as well as Felony Child Neglect with Great Bodily Harm. She is currently is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond.
In a shocking incident, an infant was brutally raped for two hours by a 36-year-old construction worker in west Delhi on Friday night.
TRAGIC NEWS: 11-month-old Baby Brutally Raped For Two Hours In India
The culprit then heartlessly abandoned the 11-month-old child, PTC News reported.
The innocent child was sleeping with her mother, when a construction worker, who originated from Bihar and had routinely came to Delhi for work, took the child away at 10:00pm.
After her mother reported to the authorities at 11:00pm, the baby was later found in an unconscious state by the local police and was then rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where she has been hospitalized and still remained in the Intensive Care Unit.
“The girl was bleeding profusely. The doctors at the hospital said that the child was in a severe condition,” a senior staff stated.
The police reportedly found the construction worker’s cellphone at the crime scene and tracked him to a nearby labourer settlement. The criminal was then arrested and confessed his crime.
“He said he took her to the bushes beside a drain and raped her for nearly two hours. Fearing that she might had died when she became unconscious, he left the child in the bushes and fled to his shack”, the media reporter added.