Sarasota parents jailed after medical exam reveals injuries to infant

The parents of a 2-month-old child in Sarasota are facing charges of child neglect after an exam revealed several injuries to their daughter, according to Sarasota police.

On Jan. 18, Magdalena Perez-Lopez, 28, and Martin Gomez, 27, brought their infant daughter to Sarasota Memorial Hospital because she had not been eating for two days. Physicians examined the girl and found “several injuries of concern,” according to the affidavit. A Florida Department of Children and Families investigator told police they received a report from the hospital indicating possible child abuse.

The DCF investigator told police the 2-month-old was born premature in October and was in neonatal intensive care for two months before she was was able to go home with her parents, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The girl was flown from Sarasota Memorial Hospital to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg for additional treatment.

A subsequent exam by medical staff at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital occurred, and staff told officers the infant had multiple injuries, some that appeared to be in various stages of healing. That indicated to staff they could have happened over a period of time – between four days and two weeks prior, according to the affidavit. Skeletal scans revealed numerous fractures.

Scans performed while the infant was in the neonatal intensive care unit, before being sent home with her parents, did not show blood in the brain and were normal, according to the affidavit. A doctor told investigators someone “had to participate in causing” the types of injuries the child sustained. All five of the injuries listed in the report were redacted from the affidavit.

A person who lives in the home with Gomez and Perez-Lopez told investigators that about a week before the incident, the baby was sitting in the baby carrier alone on the couch and both parents were gone.

Gomez and Perez-Lopez were charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and are each being held in the Sarasota County jail on a $100,000 bond.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Sarasota parents jailed after medical exam reveals injuries to infant."