PROVO, Utah, Dec. 7, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Provo man faces two felony abuse charges after his girlfriend’s 1-year-old was found to have a head injury and recent bruises all over her body.
Javier Alverdi-Ramierez, 20, was charged on suspicion of two counts of inflicting serious physical injury intentionally, a second-degree felony.
Provo police were asked to investigate by the Division of Child and Family Services after the child was treated at a local hospital for head injuries that caused her to lose consciousness, a probable cause statement says.
“The 1-year-old child presented with a head injury that caused the child to go unconscious, when the victim woke up she had an altered level of consciousness, and vomited multiple times,” the statement says.
“The victim was found to have bruises all over her body, and all four extremities. The bruises were recent to several weeks old and appeared to be caused by a human hand. On most of the bruises you could see the finger marks from an adult hand.”
The girl also had two broken ribs with fresh bruising around the area of the breaks, the statement says. The doctor also told police officials that the child’s head injuries were not consistent with a fall, and that all her injuries were consistent with child abuse.
She was sent to Primary Children’s Hospital for further evaluation.
The child’s mother said that on that morning, she had been showering and Ramirez was the only other adult present with her two children, ages 1 and 3.
“(The mother) said that Javier got her from the shower and said something was wrong with her 1 year old daughter,” the probable cause statement says. “(She) left the shower and found the victim unconscious on the floor of her bedroom,” adding there was vomit on the floor and the baby girl’s clothing.
The child’s mother also said she had questioned Alverdi-Ramierez multiple times previously after he went to the baby’s room alone, and she heard striking sounds and crying coming from the room. She said Ramierez always told her he had just been hitting a wall or the bed to frighten the baby, the statement says.
Alverdi-Ramierez was read his Miranda rights, and agreed to speak with officers. He denied any wrongdoing, the probable cause statement says.
“Javier admitted that he does get angry with the victim, but said when he gets angry he does other stuff like cleaning or cooking.”
