Sentenced: ‘Trusted Caregiver’ Behind Bars After Causing ‘Brain Bleed’ In 2YO Boy

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A woman is behind bars for allegedly abusing a child so badly that part of his skull needed to be removed.

Police in Lakewood, Colorado, announced on social media Thursday that they were searching for McKinley Slone Hernandez, 25, and asking the public for help tracking her down. Stefanie Reichert says that Hernandez caused injuries so severe to her 2-year-old son Giovanni in September that he still needs surgery.

“Hernandez has an active felony warrant for child abuse – cruelty toward child – with a $1,000 bond,” the Lakewood Police Department posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Hours later, Lakewood police said that Hernandez was “taken into custody tonight by LPD Agents without incident.”

Reichert told the station that Giovanni had to have part of his skull removed because of bleeding on the brain and that after initially spending weeks in the hospital, the boy had to have yet another surgery.

Reichert said she anticipates a long road to recovery and that her son shows signs of ongoing trauma.

“He doesn’t like strangers,” she told KUSA. “Now he doesn’t like the nurses and the doctors. He doesn’t let anybody touch him. We have to do everything for them in there.”

“Giovanni was life flighted to the children’s hospital after being harmed by the hands of a trusted caregiver,” the fundraiser said when it was initially launched in September. “He is suffering from a brain bleed requiring emergency surgery.”

“At this time, doctors are unsure what his recovery will look like,” the initial post also said.

Reichert provided an update on the boy’s condition on Friday.

“We had a rough Thanksgiving this year to say the least!” Reichart wrote, adding that the boy had surgery on Thursday and is still suffering from a fever, pain and discomfort. “He’s pretty swollen and his right eye is swollen shut. He slept most of the day and I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow.”

'Trusted caregiver' behind bars after allegedly causing 'brain bleed' in 2-year-old boy

"You never would think it would happen to you, especially by someone who you consider a friend," the boy's mother said.

lawandcrime.com

 

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Spoiler

Donate to Emergency Funds for Baby Giovanni, organized by Danielle Allaire

On Friday evening (9/1/2023) Giovanni was life flighted to the children’s hospital … Danielle Allaire needs your support for Emergency Funds for Baby Giovanni

www.gofundme.com

 

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A Lakewood child caretaker is now sentenced to 18 years in prison for child abuse. FOX31 sat down exclusively with the father of the toddler she’s convicted of seriously injuring.

A seven-day trial reviewed disturbing details from when Giovanni was in his babysitter McKinley Slone Hernandez’s care in September of 2023. Prosecutors said the two-year-old fell or was pushed out of a trailer that was shown on surveillance video from the day of the incident during the trial.

“We watched her pick up a child who ‘fell out of a trailer’ and is sad and hurt and crying,” Giovanni’s father, Anthony Distefano, said. “And instead of consoling him, she picks him up and walking in the house, bites him on his forearm, right in the camera, it just doesn’t, it’ll never make sense to me.”

Prosecutors told FOX31 that Hernandez operated an unlicensed home daycare. Giovanni had been in her care regularly for more than a year. Distefano said they knew and trusted her.

“Never did I think that somebody who is supposed to be your friend, that you’ve known for years, would ever do anything like that,” Distefano said. “McKinley, not once from the day it happened till now, has said anything about what happened, said how sorry she was.”

Looking back on the last two years, Distefano’s advice to other parents is to follow through with any concerns your children bring you.

“She said he was clumsy and tripped and fell a week before this,” Distefano said. “He told us that she pushed him. Now she probably pushed him. So I mean, I just follow through with anything they ever say, you know, you never know. Everybody’s your friend. But I’ll never understand that. I don’t know.”

Hernandez was sentenced to 18 years in DOC, followed by a mandatory three years of parole. She was granted 242 days of presentence confinement credit.

MSN