A Colorado babysitter is facing felony child abuse charges after allegedly causing a 2-year-old boy’s massive brain bleed that necessitated the removal of part of his skull.
On Thursday, the Lakewood Police Department announced on X that a warrant was out for the arrest of 25-year-old McKinley Slone Hernandez.
The next day she was arrested without incident and jailed on $100,000 bond, the department wrote in an update.
She was still incarcerated at Jefferson County Jail as of Monday, per the facility’s online records, and is due in Jefferson County Court on Dec. 20.
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McKinley Slone Hernandez, 25, is incarcerated at Jefferson County Jail in Colorado on felony child abuse charges. (Lakewood Police Department)
Stefanie Reichert said that Hernandez injured her 2-year-old son Giovanni in September, requiring multiple surgeries to treat his subsequent brain bleed.
Part of the boy’s skull had to be removed, the mother told local news station USA, and he required another surgery after spending weeks in the hospital.
“You never would think it would happen to you, especially by someone who you consider a friend,” Reichert told the station. “He doesn’t like strangers. Now he doesn’t like the nurses and doctors. He doesn’t let anybody touch him. We have to do everything for him in there.”
On Sept. 1, the child was “life flighted to the children’s hospital after being harmed by the hands of the trusted caregiver,” the boy’s family wrote in a GoFundMe launched to cover the child’s medical expenses.
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“This situation is something that no child or parent should ever have to endure,” read a Sept. 2 update after the boy’s first surgery.
Giovanni’s most recent surgery to knit the separated pieces of his skull together took place on Thanksgiving – that day, a warrant was issued for Hernandez’s arrest.
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The Lakewood Police Department in Colorado issued a warrant for McKinley Slone Hernandez’s arrest on Thanksgiving, months after she allegedly injured a 2-year-old boy. (Lakewood Police Department)
“We ended Thanksgiving with the best thing possible,” wrote the family on their GoFundMe page. “A WARRENT [sic] ISSUED FOR THE SUSPECT. She is wanted on a $100,000 bond for felony child abuse. GET HER NAME OUT AS SHE IS WANTED BY THE LAKEWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT IN COLORADO.”
Regarding the boy’s condition, the family wrote that Giovanni is “pretty swollen” and that his “right eye is [still] swollen shut.”
“He slept most of the day and I’m hoping for a better tomorrow,” Reichert said.
