Woman, 21, Let Toddler Suffer With Injuries: Deputies

SEFFNER, FL — A toddler’s late Monday night trip to the Brandon Regional Hospital emergency room led to the arrest of a 21-year-old woman who was providing care for her.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Veronica Yuliann Rivera-Cruz brought a 19-month-old girl to the emergency room around 11 p.m. Oct. 2. Rivera-Cruz told healthcare providers they were there for treatment of swelling to the child’s left leg, an email from the sheriff’s office said. (For more weather and local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Brandon Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

In examining the baby, however, doctors “located and confirmed multiple injuries,” the email noted. Investigators say, “physical abuse has occurred consistently for at least two months based on the different stages of healing and acute injuries.”

The toddler, the sheriff’s office said, “had to live day-to-day with numerous injuries to her body.”

Rivera-Cruz was charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm on Wednesday. The child, who is not being identified, has been transferred to All Children’s Hospital, the agency noted.

Deputies have not elaborated on Rivera-Cruz’s relationship to the little girl. They only said the child was in her care.

Rivera-Cruz was being held without bond in the Hillsborough County Jail on Thursday.

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Booking photo courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office