Mother charged with injuring 9-month-old
The mother for whom police issued a warrant last week has been arrested in connection with the near-death of her 9-month-old baby.
On Wednesday, Xochitl Remedios Nopaltecatl-Rimirez, 27, of East Butler was denied bail and placed in Butler County Prison.
A warrant was issued for her arrest on Nov. 21. She has been charged with felony aggravated assault.
Nopaltecatl-Rimirez is alleged to have injured her baby on Aug. 9, according to state police.
Police received a call around 5 p.m. on Aug. 9 for an unresponsive child in an apartment on Grant Street. There they found the mother with the baby and a 3-year-old.
After being flown to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, the baby underwent immediate surgery for a near-fatal brain injury, court documents report.
Nopaltecatl-Rimirez told police that around 2 p.m. the baby took a nap and after waking up, the child was bottle-fed and put on an air mattress in a bedroom. Nopaltecatl-Rimirez told police she then left the bedroom for the kitchen and she heard the baby fall.
But medical personnel, documented by police, say this explanation doesn’t account for the extreme damage done to the baby’s head. The baby, they believe, was exposed to some kind of head impact trauma that is consistent with “repetitive acceleration-deceleration forces.” The trauma, known as shaken baby syndrome, was so severe that the baby’s injuries will likely lead to permanent impairment, documents said.
Nopaltecatl-Rimirez is expected back in court next month.
