Authorities are investigating the alleged child abuse of a 3-year-old girl who was brought to a hospital weighing as little as 19 pounds.
The girl was suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration, weighing between 19 and 22 pounds, and was brought to the hospital Oct. 13 in critical condition, according to an arrest affidavit and prosecutors.
The child’s mother, Shaunee Hall, 22, was arrested Friday and is expected to be charged this week, according to a news release from the Denver district attorney’s office.
Her roommate, Tina Marie Houcks, 36, was charged with child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class 3 felony, according to the news release.
The charges allege Houcks and Hall lived together and were responsible for the child.
The girl is alive but her condition was not available because of medical privacy rules, said DA spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.
The girl was brought in with her “eyes rolling around in her head,” the arrest affidavit said.
Denver Department of Human Services officials were called and the caseworker told police that Hall told them the girl started losing weight in February. The caregivers noticed it two weeks ago but they attributed it to a growth spurt, the arrest affidavit said.
Hall had not taken the child to a doctor between February and October because of her small stature and advice from family members, the affidavit said.
Dr. Cynthia Tanner told police that it was not a medical condition but “100% neglect,” the arrest document said.
Houcks was the child’s caregiver when Hall was attending classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver, police wrote.
The girl, whose name was not released, is the third recent metro Denver child killed or severely injured in what authorities termed child abuse.
Chandler Grafner died in May and his caregivers are charged with murder for allegedly starving him.
In September, the mother and boyfriend of Neveah Gallegos were arrested as suspects in her death, but they were released earlier this month because prosecutors did not have enough information to file charges.
Grafner and Gallegos had contacts with social services before their deaths.
But human services spokeswoman Benilda “Benny” Samuels said the agency had no previous contact with the child or family in the most recent incident until they were called to the hospital Oct. 13.
Houcks is being held on a $75,000 bail and is scheduled to be in court Wednesday.
Arthur Kane: 303-954-1244 or akane@denverpost.com
