BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — A Baker County mother is facing multiple charges of child neglect.
The investigation began April 16 when an 8-month-old was brought to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville with life-threatening injuries. Detectives learned the infant had been brought by his grandmother after she noticed that he was severely underweight, according to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
Doctors told police the baby weighed the average weight of a 2-month-old due to starvation and had suffered a fractured skull.
“Detectives established that the victim suffered a pattern of neglect since the day he was born,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook. “This neglect consisted of a lack of necessary medical attention, malnourishment, and failure to provide a safe home environment.”
The baby’s mother, Haylee Kent, 21, is charged with multiple counts of child neglect with great bodily harm. Police say Kent told detectives she felt the way the baby needed to be fed was sometimes annoying, so she just opted not to do so. She was taken into custody April 19.
BCSO said the baby is recovering and has been placed into foster care.