Miss-Delectable
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Boynton Beach mom charged with neglect after fall leaves child blind, deaf
A Boynton Beach woman is charged with child neglect with great harm after her 3-month-old son was injured so severely he is blind and deaf, perhaps permanently, and might need medical care the rest of his life.
"We don't know yet if the child will recover," Palm Beach County Sheriff's detective Giselle Liriano told a judge this morning at a bond hearing for Madria Eyvette Roundtree.
The 25-year-old already had three other children adopted by a relative, "due to her failure to protect them,' a Palm Beach County Sheriff's report said.
The baby, born Oct. 9, is at St. Mary's Medical Center and "does not respond to sound and has no eye movement," the report said.
This morning, Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd ordered Roundtree held in lieu of $50,000 bail and ordered that if she left jail, it would be under supervised release.
The report said investigators cannot determine when the child suffered blunt trauma but that Roundtree failed to get him medical attention.
Attorney Jack Fleischman told the judge that even if the prosecution is correct, "Clearly it's not an intentional injury. The child fell from a bed, the child was injured and she (Roundtree) didn't take steps."
Fleischman said later he will challenge the charges.
The father lives out of state and has contact with the child, the lawyer said.
According to the sheriff's report, on Dec. 11, Roundtree took the child, then two months old, to Bethesda Memorial Hospital, saying the baby was vomiting and the "left side of his body was jumpy."
A CT scan showed massive head trauma and heavy bleeding to the brain, the report said.
It said Roundtree denied knowing what might have caused the injuries.
Later, Roundtree's other children told investigators they saw the baby fall off a bed while Roundtree was in another room.
They said Roundtree told them she'd take them for pizza if they didn't tell anyone.
Roundtree told investigators she had noticed the child's distress while sitting in her car at her cousin's home.
"Madria did not take (the baby) to the hospital when she saw what was happening," the report said, "but instead began to do her cousin's hair.
"It wasn't until after her cousin told her to stop that she drove (the baby) to the hospital," driving other children home first, according to the narrative.
The child's godmother told investigators she and her 17-year-old son begged Roundtree to take the child to a hospital or doctor but that Madria instead went to a club with a boyfriend, saying the child was just constipated.
The godmother later learned Roundtree had obtained medication for the baby but never left it with them.
The godmother's 17-year-old son later told investigators that when Roundtree came back the next morning to pick up the child, she said she was going out to get some cash.
The man said he urged Roundtree her to leave the baby, who had cried all night, while she did so, but that she refused.
Jail records show Roundtree also was arrested in 2003. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor, and was ordered to pay $333 in court costs, records show.
A Boynton Beach woman is charged with child neglect with great harm after her 3-month-old son was injured so severely he is blind and deaf, perhaps permanently, and might need medical care the rest of his life.
"We don't know yet if the child will recover," Palm Beach County Sheriff's detective Giselle Liriano told a judge this morning at a bond hearing for Madria Eyvette Roundtree.
The 25-year-old already had three other children adopted by a relative, "due to her failure to protect them,' a Palm Beach County Sheriff's report said.
The baby, born Oct. 9, is at St. Mary's Medical Center and "does not respond to sound and has no eye movement," the report said.
This morning, Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd ordered Roundtree held in lieu of $50,000 bail and ordered that if she left jail, it would be under supervised release.
The report said investigators cannot determine when the child suffered blunt trauma but that Roundtree failed to get him medical attention.
Attorney Jack Fleischman told the judge that even if the prosecution is correct, "Clearly it's not an intentional injury. The child fell from a bed, the child was injured and she (Roundtree) didn't take steps."
Fleischman said later he will challenge the charges.
The father lives out of state and has contact with the child, the lawyer said.
According to the sheriff's report, on Dec. 11, Roundtree took the child, then two months old, to Bethesda Memorial Hospital, saying the baby was vomiting and the "left side of his body was jumpy."
A CT scan showed massive head trauma and heavy bleeding to the brain, the report said.
It said Roundtree denied knowing what might have caused the injuries.
Later, Roundtree's other children told investigators they saw the baby fall off a bed while Roundtree was in another room.
They said Roundtree told them she'd take them for pizza if they didn't tell anyone.
Roundtree told investigators she had noticed the child's distress while sitting in her car at her cousin's home.
"Madria did not take (the baby) to the hospital when she saw what was happening," the report said, "but instead began to do her cousin's hair.
"It wasn't until after her cousin told her to stop that she drove (the baby) to the hospital," driving other children home first, according to the narrative.
The child's godmother told investigators she and her 17-year-old son begged Roundtree to take the child to a hospital or doctor but that Madria instead went to a club with a boyfriend, saying the child was just constipated.
The godmother later learned Roundtree had obtained medication for the baby but never left it with them.
The godmother's 17-year-old son later told investigators that when Roundtree came back the next morning to pick up the child, she said she was going out to get some cash.
The man said he urged Roundtree her to leave the baby, who had cried all night, while she did so, but that she refused.
Jail records show Roundtree also was arrested in 2003. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor, and was ordered to pay $333 in court costs, records show.
