WEST PALM BEACH, Fla — A woman is behind bars after a toddler, who was left in her care, suffered serious brain injuries after being pulled from a waterway in West Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach police said Francesca Geller smoked marijuana an hour before a 1-year-old boy wandered away from the home at the Fairway Vista Apartments and was found face down in a lake behind the apartment, according to an arrest report.
The incident occurred back on April 10 at about 10:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of Brandywine Road.
The report said Gellar told detectives she went to the bathroom for about five to seven minutes and later discovered the boy had slipped out of the home through a screened sliding door and later found the boy in the water.
According to the report, Gellar told detectives the boy's body and lips were blue, his body was limp and he was not making any vocal sounds.
The toddler was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in critical condition and was intubated and will now be left with permanent brain damage, mobility and motor skills disabilities and speech, the arrest report said.
According to the arrest report, a man told detectives he and Geller "consistently smoked marijuana together in the home approximately 4 to 5 times a day and hide it by smoking in the bathroom or kitchen."
The person claims they did not smoke with Geller on the day of the incident.
The arrest report does not say Geller is the mother of the children but says she is the "sole caregiver."
She faces a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm and is being held on no bond.
If convicted, Geller faces 15 years in prison.
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