From Deseret News archives:
Provo mother charged with felony child abuse
Joanna Ramirez, 23, was charged Tuesday in 4th District Court with a second-degree felony of child abuse/neglect for allegedly shaking her 6-week-old baby boy to make him stop crying.
She was granted a court-appointed attorney as she was unable to pay for her own, according to a financial affidavit she filled out in court.
When Ramirez took the baby to the hospital on Oct. 13 she told police who were called to investigate the child's injuries that the baby had fallen off the bed on Sept. 25, according to a police report filed in 4th District Court.
However, when a doctor at Primary Children's Medical Center told her about the lacerations on the right frontal lobe of the baby's brain, Ramirez changed her story, according to the police report.
She then demonstrated for police with a doll how she had shaken the baby back and forth to make him stop crying, according to the police report.
The child was examined and later sent home with the child's father. The child is fine but might have some developmental issues as he grows, said Provo Police Capt. Rick Healey.
Ramirez was not arrested at that time, but told to have no contact with her husband or the baby. She violated that stipulation when she went to see the baby Oct. 30 and ended up fighting with the baby's father, Healey said.
Ramirez and the man were then both arrested. Ramirez was arrested for investigation of aggravated child abuse and the man for investigation of identity fraud for having social security cards belonging to other people.
Ramirez is the Utah County Jail on $15,000 cash only bond. Her husband is in jail on $5,000 cash or bond bail, with an immigration hold.
