A Bradford woman was arraigned Friday on allegations that she mistreated, malnourished and threatened to beat her 2-year-old son if police or social workers didn’t “do something” with him.
Sarah Bauer, 32, of 15½ Charlotte Ave., is charged with endangering the welfare of children, a third-degree felony, and terroristic threats and simple assault, both first-degree misdemeanors.
According to court records, on April 23, police responded to Bauer’s residence to investigate the welfare of a 2-year-old child. McKean County Children and Youth Services had called police, telling them Bauer had called their office “demanding for police and/or CYS to get there soon or she was going to beat the child for crying, acting out and specifically for not making his bed,” the records read.
When Assistant Police Chief Mike Ward arrived, Bauer was very distraught and said she couldn’t handle the child. Ward asked what the child was doing. Bauer said he wouldn’t make his bed. The blanket was on the floor and he refused to pick it up. When she confronted him he started to cry. She said she “scared herself by her actions as she snapped and grabbed the child and began excessively striking him,” the records stated.
She told Ward she “had lost it,” said she had hit the child hard and that she shouldn’t have, the records allege. She put the child in another room, separated herself from him and called CYS for help.
When CYS officials examined the child for injuries, they found bruises to his thighs, back, buttocks and his forehead. Bauer told them the child slammed his head on the floor and walls and had been doing it for a long period of time, the court records alleged.
Ward and the CYS worker noted the child’s weight and size were smaller than his age would indicate. Bauer said he hadn’t been gaining weight for some time and that he was a picky eater. Through investigation, Ward learned the child hadn’t been to the doctor since December 2016. From the time period of December 2016 to April 2018, the child had gained just 1 pound, the court records stated.
The child was assessed at UPMC Children’s in Pittsburgh, where a doctor said the child showed signs of physical abuse and malnourishment. Ward also noted that Bauer failed to obtain medical help for her child’s failure to thrive, or any sort of help for his habit of banging his head on walls and the floor, the records alleged.
Bauer was arraigned before District Judge Dom Cercone and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. She is scheduled to appear in Central Court on Sept. 20.
