Two Coconut Creek sisters have been arrested and accused of injuring a baby girl but not getting the prompt medical attention she needed.
According to the arrest report, Olimar Rivas Gonzalez, 29, claimed her six-month-old niece fell off a bed and hit her head on the floor while she was babysitting and reaching for a fresh diaper and wipes.
She was concerned about the injury but instead of calling 911, the baby’s mother Maolia Rivas-Gonzalez, 31, waited an hour to get a ride to Florida Northwest Hospital in Margate, the report stated.
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Once at the hospital, a doctor determined there was no head injury.
The next morning, the baby cried every time either sister moved the infant.
They noticed the baby had a swollen left leg but waited until 5 p.m. June 1 to take her to Broward Health Coral Springs medical center, the report stated.
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Hospital staff called the Broward Sheriff’s Office June 2 to report that the baby’s injury was “abuse-related” and that she would require surgery.
The biological father had separated from the mother so he could not give permission for the surgery.
When Maolia Rivas-Gonzalez showed up at the hospital investigators said they learned she had been in rehab for a drug addiction and that the baby tested positive for opioids and narcotics at birth.
The mother was arrested for violating probation on unrelated charges and later charged with child neglect. Custody of her two other children was given to their biological father, the report stated.
Investigators searched the sisters' “unclean” Coconut Creek home and found little or no food for the children, clothing and food scraps in the crib, a suspected crack cocaine pipe and tobacco products on a dresser, and three doses of the overdose medication Narcan in a top dresser drawer, police said.
During the investigation, police also said Olimar Rivas-Gonzalez tested positive for fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana use. She said she had completed a detox program one month earlier.
Due to her negligence as a caregiver for the child, Olimar Rivas-Gonzalez was charged with child neglect causing serious injury. She remains in the Broward County Jail on bonds totaling $15,500, court records show.
Maolia Rivas-Gonzalez is being held in jail without bond.
