A woman from College Station got 40 years in jail for hurting an infant very badly.
The defendant, Berta Lopez-Vasquez, admitted guilt on Thursday to hurting a child seriously. Based on what the police say, Lopez-Vasquez hit and shook a baby younger than a year when the child wouldn’t stop crying.
According to a statement from the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office, the 5-month-old child had multiple fractures in his skull, bruises all over his body, retinal bleeding that was consistent with shaking, and serious brain bleeding.
The child’s mother told the police that she had left Lopez-Vasquez to watch the kid while she went to work. Another time, after some time, the babysitter called her to come get the child because he wasn’t breathing properly. Police say the babysitter wouldn’t call an ambulance or take the child to the hospital.
Lopez-Vasquez told the police that after hurting the child, she only called her husband and he persuaded her to call the child’s mother.
According to the mother’s victim impact statement, the child, who is almost 3 years old now, still has problems because of the abuse.
This case was looked into by the College Station Police Department, the Department of Family and Protective Services, and Tiffany Graves from the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office.