Judge Orders State Custody In Hialeah Abuse Case
MIAMI (CBS4) – A Miami-Dade Juvenile Court judge decided Tuesday that the children of a Hialeah couple arrested over the weekend for neglect should be temporarily put in a shelter.
Vincent Collins, 25, and Savannah Sholter, 21, were taken into custody Saturday evening and each charged with one count of child neglect; they're being held on $7,500 bond.
During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia ordered that they should have no contact with either their one-year-old or two-year-old sons.
CBS4's Peter D'Oench spoke to Irma Martinez, a woman who said she was a family friend and knew the parents for a year. She said after calling the DCF she wasn't sure if any action was taken.
Martinez said she noticed the child was not being fed.
"(The children) were dirty," Martinez said. "I use to bring them to my house and my daughters and me, we used to bathe them and clean them. We had clean clothes for them and feed them. We also learned how to feed them because she was not feeding him."
She said she was angry after she found out.
"Of course it made me angry," she said. "It makes me feel like all of us have to be more involved…you know, special needs kids need more help than any other kids."
Martinez, who called the DCF in September, said she told the DCF about the condition of both children.
"They just were in such bad shape and needed help," she said. "I felt I had to call...to do something. These children have to be protected. And this is what I had to do."
The child was hospitalized in intensive care last September.
Martinez said she met Collins and Sholter at the ARC School, which helps children with special needs.
She said she was not surprised after the two were charged with child neglect.
The situation came to light over the weekend when Hialeah police spokesman Detective Eddie Rodriguez said they received a frantic call on Saturday from Sholter who told the emergency operator that her two-year old son was not breathing and unresponsive at the Rainbow Inn Motel near West Okeechobee Road.
Listen to the 911 call here.
"He looked like a concentration camp victim from a World War II documentary; he was emaciated," said Hialeah Police Detective Carl Zogby.
To see photos of the conditions in the hotel room, click here.
Arriving officers started CPR on the boy until paramedics arrived. He was taken to Miami Children's Hospital in critical condition.
According to Rodriguez, doctors said the child suffers from a pre-existing medical condition, but that had nothing to do with the condition in which he was found. First, he was severely malnourished and weighed only about 15 pounds, half of what his normal weight should be.
Also, there was fecal matter stuck to his skin, there were severe lesions on his back from being bed ridden, he was dehydrated and his toe nails looked as though they had never been cut.
"They just neglected him to death," Detective Zogby said.
Hialeah police said there were diapers in the room 3 feet high along with a dead cat in the room and an overflowing litter box. There was also fecal matter on everything in the room.
According to investigators, Collins and Sholter were staying in room 23 at the motel with a one-year-old baby while they left their other special needs son alone in room 19 since February 15.
He was reportedly on a feeding tube since birth and was not able to swallow, according to testimony in court.
She said she was relieved after the court hearing.
"At least now I hope they will be protected. And I pray they will be safe," she said. "That's what I hope and pray for."
Collins is a machinery technician for the U.S. Coast Guard and a Coast Guard team had regularly checked on the two-year old. Coast Guard representatives told a judge the couple on at least one occasion would not allow them to see the children after last September's call to DCF.
The Department of Families and Children said they have a history with the couple. But they were not able to say what happened after Martinez called the hotline about the children, and what actions, if any, were taken.
The Judge did not question anyone from DCF about this but this may change at the next hearing, which is scheduled for March 29th.
The two-year-old boy remains in serious condition at Miami Children's Hospital while his parents are still in jail.
"I know in my prayers were that he was going to be out of there," she said.
