(PatriotWise.com) — A babysitter in Florida was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child after the 10-month-old in her care was left in a car and died, CBS News reported.
Rhonda Jewell, 46, was charged by the Baker County Sheriff’s Office last Thursday after she was accused of leaving the child unattended in a vehicle for at least 5 hours. According to the Sheriff’s office, the outside temperature was 98 degrees while inside the vehicle, the temperature reached over 133.
According to authorities, Jewell picked up the infant from the mother’s north Macclenney home around 8:00 am on Wednesday and drove to another home where she was babysitting three other children, according to the arrest report.
When she arrived at the second home, Jewell left the child inside the vehicle, assuming the infant was asleep. Jewell told investigators that she planned to get the baby later but “completely” forgot.
It wasn’t until the infant’s mother arrived at the house around 1:00 pm to pick up her daughter that Jewell realized what she had done.
When deputies arrived, the infant was inside the garage. The deputies and EMTs said the child’s skin was “very hot to the touch,” according to the report.
The child, whose name is being withheld, was taken to Fraser Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead.
Jewell was in court Thursday morning where her bond was set at $25,000.
In a post on Facebook, Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden said the incident was “very hard” on him as a “sheriff of a small community.” Rhoden urged people to consider the tragic event that took place in his small town last Wednesday and remember that “our world can be turned upside down” in “the blink of an eye.”
According to the Sheriff’s office, Jewell had been babysitting the infant since June.
The 10-month-old was the sixth Florida child to die this year after being left in a vehicle, according to the Florida Times-Union.
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