Malnourished Boy One of Worst Cases Hospital Has Seen

7-year-old Miami boy improving after father neglects him to the brink

Police and the family of a malnourished autistic boy who was rushed to a Miami hospital Sunday with breathing problems said they're amazed he's still alive.

"He was only skin and bones" seven-year-old Roberto Fortin's great-grandmother said, after visiting him in Miami Children’s Hospital Tuesday. The boy was so severely ignored by his father and stepmother that he weighed nearly half what he should.

"This kid had lost 40 pounds,” says Miami Police spokesperson Delrish Moss. “This kid had lesions so deep that they go down to the bone. He had pieces of flesh hanging off."

Even the veteran caregivers at Miami Children's Hospital cried, Moss said.

“One of the worst cases they’d ever seen,” said Moss. "By the time the child arrives at the hospital, he's in full cardiac arrest. He is about to die."

Arrested and charged with child neglect is the boy's father, 30-year-old Roberto Fortin, Sr., who told police he thought his child, who he says is autistic, would get better.

But when Fortin lived in Davie in 2006, he was convicted of aggravated manslaughter when his 9-month-old son drowned in the bathtub while Fortin napped. Police say he received no jail time.

Moss, however, says Fortin will go to jail now because this new arrest violates probation from the previous death.

"When Broward finds out about this,” Fortin was told by Miami-Dade County Bond Court judge Daryl Trawick Tuesday, “they're going to issue a warrant for your arrest."

"This is a person who was on probation because he had another child who died as a result of his carelessness,” said Moss. “This is bad parenting. This is horrible. This is a crime."

The boy's step-mom is 32-year-old Yoselin Aguirre, who told authorities she did nothing about the boy's condition because the child is not hers. She was also arrested and charged with child neglect but she was released on bond Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Children and Family Services have said only that DCF had an open case on the family and that this current case is being investigated.

The boy’s biological mother might have prevented the abuse had she visited her son more frequently and taken action.

Young Roberto was being home-schooled, Aguirre told authorities. It does not appear inspections are required when parents want to school their children at home.

The boy's relatives visited him today and are furious with the father.

"We care about the baby,” said 13-year-old cousin Jessica Parera. “We want him to get, like, better. We don’t really care about the dad. We care about the baby."

Moss wondered how a parent could use such horrible judgment.

"I've been doing police work for 26 years," he said. "And there's still things that make me scratch my head."

Aguirre also had a child living in the house. DCF has removed that child and placed him in protective custody. Should Roberto make it out of the hospital, he will also not be returned to the home.

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