Elioreth Jimenez-Marin, 26, was charged with felony aggravated child abuse and booked into the Wasatch County Jail Oct. 1.
The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office received a call from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services Sept. 27 about the alleged abuse. Court documents state the 11-month-old boy needed emergency surgery for a brain bleed.
According to deputies, the boy’s mother dropped him off at the Jimenez-Marin's home in Heber at 8:30 a.m. Around 2:30 p.m., the mother said Jimenez-Marin called her saying the boy was “not doing well and not waking up,” and she took the 11-month-old to the hospital.
The next day, a Primary Children’s doctor told the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office the child was “not doing well.” That he had “non-accidental” severe trauma to his head consistent with shaken baby syndrome. The doctor said part of the baby’s skull had to be removed during surgery.
Deputies interviewed Jimenez-Marin on Oct. 1 and she told them she was babysitting three other young children while watching the 11-month-old boy.
Around 2 p.m., Jimenez-Marin said she changed the 11-month-old’s diaper and then left the room to throw it away and use the restroom.
When she returned, Jimenez-Marin said she saw the baby “lying at the bottom of the stairs.” According to the affidavit, she said the child was unresponsive. Jimenez-Marin said she then shook the child back and forth to get him to wake up, but he remained unresponsive.
Jimenez-Marin has been charged with aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
She’s due in court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 9.