personalized baby blanket: Day care staffer facing charges

Baby allegedly force-fed, shaken
By Steven Elbow
A day care worker faces a felony charge for allegedly shaking and trying to force-feed a 6-month-old boy.


Anna C. Fuller, 19, who was working at Playhaven, 4111 East Towne Blvd., at the time of the incident, was charged Thursday with second-degree reckless endangerment, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint, on Feb. 6 another employee was having problems feeding the baby, so she asked Fuller to try. Upon failing to get the baby to eat, Fuller allegedly put the boy in a crib and rocked it violently to get him to stop crying, at one point hitting the baby on the back of the head with an open hand.

The co-worker told police Fuller picked the baby up by the shirt, tried again to feed the baby, then said, "I'll make you eat it" before she allegedly removed the bottle lid and nipple and tried to force the bottle opening into his mouth. She then allegedly held the baby at arm's length and shook him three times, causing the baby's head to flail violently.

The co-worker told police Fuller then "propped or threw" the baby into a swing and covered his entire body and head with a personalized baby blanket, tucked the blanket, then walked away saying, "You're such a little jerk."

Fuller then went to another part of the room and began to break pencils. The co-worker told police that, in the past, Fuller had said she would break pencils instead of breaking the baby's neck.

The mother of the baby arrived a short time later and was upset to find the baby sleeping with the blanket over his head. The mother later placed the blanket over her own head and found that she had difficulty drawing a breath.

Dr. Barbara Knox, a child abuse specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, reviewed the case and was amazed the baby was not injured. She said Fuller's alleged actions could have caused a variety of injuries, from serious mouth injuries and brain or rib injuries to death from suffocation.

The co-worker told police that while she was "scared for the child's safety," she didn't say anything to stop Fuller or inform the mother of the incidents.

"I feel ashamed I didn't say anything," she reportedly said.

Cocaine conviction: A Madison man was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Thursday for selling cocaine.

Jose Israel Flores-Tinoco, 27, pleaded guilty in April to the charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He and his co-defendant, Rene Lopez, were arrested last September after trying to sell over 200 grams of the drug to an undercover officers.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz, who handed Flores-Tinoco a maximum sentence because he has a history of cocaine distribution, is scheduled to sentence Lopez on June 30.

Sprinkler stops fire: An automatic sprinkler system was credited with stopping a kitchen fire from spreading on the city's east side Thursday.

Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth said the fire broke out at a second-floor apartment at 5201 Brookside in the Barrington Place Apartments at about 12:35 p.m. The occupants of the apartment thought their stove was turned off, but it was accidentally turned to a "high" setting.

The occupants tried to extinguish the flames, but were unsuccessful. But a sprinkler above the stove had extinguished the flame before firefighters arrived.

Damage costs were estimated between $5,000 and $10,000.

E-mail: selbow@madison.com
Published: June 9, 2006



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