OCALA – An 18-month-old Marion County toddler, injured Wednesday reportedly by his mother's boyfriend, who claims it was an accident has died of his injuries.
The toddler had been on life support.
Gianni Spagnolo, 34, was arrested late Thursday night by Citrus County sheriff's deputies and charged with aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm. Now, those charges are expected to be elevated, after a review by the State Attorney's Office, according to deputies.
Andrew Sheppard's mother, Kari, left him in the care of Spagnolo, her boyfriend, on Tuesday. Kari Sheppard is separated from her husband.
Kari Sheppard said Spagnolo called her at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and said Andrew had fallen out of bed, but was fine. When she left work around 5:30 p.m., she said Spagnolo called her and he told her Andrew was tired and took an extra nap.
When Sheppard arrived at Spagnolo’s home around 6 p.m., she found Andrew “unresponsive.” She said she tried to wake him, but he didn’t respond, so she took him to the emergency room at TimberRidge Medical Center. From there, the child was airlifted to Shands for further treatment.
Spagnolo, who is unemployed and lives in a garage at a cousin's home, told investigators he baby-sits for Kari, who lives in Ocala. He said he and Andrew sleep in the same bed.
Spagnolo first told Marion officials that between 11 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday, the child fell out of the bed and that he woke up when Andrew began crying. He said a rolling cart close to the bed was pushed away, and the boy had a bump on the side of his head. He said he put some ice on the bump and the child went back to sleep a short time later.
Spagnolo said they woke up around 9 a.m. and Andrew “seemed all right.” Throughout the day, he said he noticed Andrew was tired and took two naps instead of his usual one. He said the boy constantly injures himself by falling, and walking and running into things.
At TimberRidge, doctors told a Marion deputy they had ordered a CAT scan and preliminary results showed there was some bleeding in the child’s head and a possible brain shift. The doctors also said there were bruises and abrasions on the child, some fresh and some old. His injuries included bruising on the left cheek, forehead and left side of his head, and a mark, that resembled a belt, on his upper thighs. He was then airlifted to Shands.
Spagnolo called Citrus County authorities at approximately 8:20 p.m. Thursday and told them he wanted to talk about the baby's injuries. At their office, he said on Wednesday between 4:30 to 5 p.m., he was kneeling on the bed and throwing Andrew up in the air. With each throw, he said he used more force. He said that one of the throws was so hard Andrew’s head hit the ceiling. As he fell, his head struck the end of a wooden table and then the concrete floor. He said after the fall, Andrew “clenched his teeth and was unresponsive.”
When Citrus deputies talked with Shands officials, they were told that the boy “suffered severe head trauma, a brain stem injury and massive retinal hemorrhaging.”
http://www.ocala.com/article/20080425/NEWS/828425847/0/FRONTPAGE
Fuckheads Myspace is private, but I thought his headline was very interesting....
QUOTE: "When you can take responsibility for yourself and your action's, you begin to grow."
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=192680836
Last edited:
