Pensacola Man Admits To Shaking Baby

A Pensacola man admitted to law enforcement that he shook a baby for eight to 10 seconds inducing shaken baby syndrome — causing brain hemorrhages, leading to seizures and necessitating the boy’s intubation.

Joe Gesse, 24, was arrested Tuesday morning, charged with aggravated child abuse and booked into the Escambia County Jail without a chance for bond.

Gesse admitted to Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigators to shaking a baby left in his care by the boy’s mother when she went to work, according to his arrest report.

The child’s mother went to work from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. June 6, she told investigators. Before she left, her boy was “a little fussy” but not acting unusual, and she asked Gesse to look after her son while she was gone.

When she returned from work, the mother noticed the baby was not at all his normally-playful self but was fussy the whole night and did not sleep between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

She called her own mother for advice, who suggested that the boy was probably experiencing pain caused by teething and recommended putting a small amount of Orajel on his gums. However, “the baby continued to not act right,” the report stated.

Her son’s pediatrician told her to take her baby to the emergency room, and a CT scan revealed hemorrhaging in the baby’s brain that medical experts believe was caused by trauma.

A doctor at Sacred Heart Hospital informed the mother that because her baby was “consistently having seizures,” he would have to be put into a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator. 

A physician later explained to ECSO investigators that the baby’s injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome as if someone had shook “him causing his brain to repeatedly hit the inside of his skull, which can cause sever brain damage or death,” the report stated.

Gesee later admitted to shaking the baby for 8 to ten seconds when the boy had been left in his care.

The child was weaned out of the medically-induced coma over the span of a few days and appeared to have moderate brain activity. At the time Gesse’s arrest report was written, it was “unknown what long-term disabilities” the baby would have from his injuries.

County records indicated that Geese remained in custody Tuesday afternoon.

This article was originally published by PNJ.com.

 

Scott Juceam is one of the leading advocates against Shaken Baby Syndrome. Scott’s life changed when his daughter Hannah was shaken to death by her nanny in 2006. Since then, Scott has dedicated his life to preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome and child abuse.

To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.ScottJuceam.com or you can click here.

Milwaukee Man Charged With Homicide Death Of Son

A 22-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged in connection to the death of his 3-month-old son.

Davionte Allen is charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide and one count of neglecting a child, consequence is death.

According to a criminal complaint, Allen was left alone with the child for around an hour and a half on Friday, June 12 at a residence near 36th and Sheridan. During that time, the child’s mother had gone to run an errand. Upon her return, the child “appeared to be sleeping” inside a pack-and-play.

Allen recorded the child making “weird grunting noises” while the mother was away. Not knowing what happened while she was gone, the mother continued to let the child sleep.

Approximately two hours later, the complaint states, the mother went to wake the child, but he was limp and unresponsive. She then rushed him to the hospital.

A CT scan at the hospital showed large bleeding on the brain, consistent with traumatic impact from shaken baby syndrome. The child was intubated and transferred to the Children’s Wisconsin intensive care unit.

There, the child was found to have hemorrhages “too numerous to count” extended into all layers of the retina. The child also had brain hemorrhage and herniation and damage to the brainstem. The complaint states that the child also had multiple, healing rib fractures.

A brain death evaluation was made by the hospital’s neurology department, revealing a complete loss of brain function. The child was taken off life support and died on June 14.

The complaint states that the child’s injuries were ruled by a doctor as “immediately symptomatic.”

In an interview, Allen told police that the child was colic and would not stop crying and would not go to sleep while the mother was out. Allen said he rocked, bounced and burped the child before laying him down for a nap — and denied harming the child in any way.

After being arrested and questioned by Milwaukee police detectives, Allen admitted to picking the child up with force and jerking his body without supporting his head. The child then began breathing irregularly, and Allen said he took a video to show to the mother.

In the video, the complaint states, Allen is heard saying “you okay, (son)…oh no.”

An autopsy confirmed the child’s cause of death as blunt force trauma and ruled the manner of death a homicide.

This article was originally posted by Fox6now.com.

 

Scott Juceam is one of the leading advocates against Shaken Baby Syndrome. Scott’s life changed when his daughter Hannah was shaken to death by her nanny in 2006. Since then, Scott has dedicated his life to preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome and child abuse

To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.ScottJuceam.com or you can click here.

‘Feral’ Children Hope For Relief

VALPARAISO — Portage Police Sgt. Janis Crafton hesitated with emotion Monday as she described for the court how three young children, who had become feral-like as a result of serious neglect by their mother, found their glimmer of hope with Gary Hanney dashed when his own neglect resulted in the death of the youngest sibling.

Hanney sat nearby in the courtroom and wept as well during what turned out to be the first phase of a two-day sentencing hearing three months after the 32-year-old Wheatfield resident pleaded guilty to a level 1 felony count of neglect of a dependent in the July 18, 2017 incident that led to the death of the 19-month-old girl.

The sentencing is scheduled to wrap up at 9 a.m. June 23 before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer.

Hanney, who faces 20 to 40 years behind bars, was living in Portage with Tamika Conley and was caring for her three children when at some point on the night in question, he claims he became aware that the youngest girl was injured and in need of medical care, according to court documents.

But rather than seek immediate care, he searched the internet for information about head trauma and called Conley home from work, according to officials. He waited 44 minutes to call for help and responding officials found the child was not breathing and had no pulse.

While Hanney claimed the child was injured after being bounced from a bed, Shannon Thompson, a child abuse pediatrician at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, testified Monday that that was not a plausible explanation for the child’s extensive injuries, which included bruising from nearly head to toe, bleeding in the brain and

The child died July 21, 2017.

Crafton said the deceased girl, and her then-6-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister, probably received the most stability in their life during the seven months they spent involved with Hanney.

Conley, 26, who has pleaded guilty to three level 3 felony counts of neglect of a dependent and faces 30 years of probation once Hanney’s case is wrapped up, did not regularly feed her children, locked them up in rooms, gave them Benadryl to sleep, Crafton said.

Crafton described their home at Camelot Manor Estates mobile home park as “barren” and “filthy.”

The children slept on stained bare mattresses on the floor, she said, and found scattered around the home were small bags used for heroin, drug needles and burned drug spoons.

Crafton described Conley’s lack of emotion as the most severe she has ever seen in her police work.

When she and another official were left to arrange for the child’s funeral, they offered the little girl’s ashes to Conley and her response was, “Well you care about her, so you take them,” Crafton said.

Hanney had pleaded guilty once prior in the case, but agreed with prosecutors in August to dismiss that agreement that carried a potential sentence of 20 to 30 years behind bars.

He told The Times in an exclusive interview in August that while admitting culpability in not seeking help sooner for the child, he was having second thoughts about having pleaded guilty to such a high-level criminal offense. He said he did not knowingly hurt the child and that the girl’s mother played a bigger role in the case than has been portrayed.

This article was originally published by NWITimes.com.

 

Scott Juceam is one of the leading advocates against Shaken Baby Syndrome. Scott’s life changed when his daughter Hannah was shaken to death by her nanny in 2006. Since then, Scott has dedicated his life to preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome and child abuse.

To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.ScottJuceam.com or you can click here.