A Fort Lupton woman whose 13-month-old son drowned in September is now charged with child abuse resulting in death, a felony punishable by up to 24 years in prison.
Shannon Johnson, 34, appeared in a video arraignment Friday in Weld District Court.
She will return to court at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 31, likely to set a preliminary hearing in which a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.
Her son, Joseph, died Sept. 20, after his mother found him in the bathtub, where she’d left him unwatched for a few minutes while on Facebook, according to an arrest affidavit. She told police she was playing a game called Cafe World while her son was in the tub.
Johnson told officers that Joseph was playing in the tub for 10 minutes, and she had checked on him once.
She told authorities she started leaving him in the bathtub alone because was an independent baby and wanted to be left alone.
The Greeley Tribune and Denver Post wire services
