SAN ANTONIO, Fla. (WFLA) – A Pasco County couple is facing charges after deputies say they failed to take a malnourished child to the hospital and bought marijuana instead.
Pasco deputies arrested 25-year-old Paul Sarmiento and 24-year-old Caitlin Long on Tuesday in San Antonio. An arrest report says the two admitted they neglected to take a 2-month-old baby to the hospital.
Deputies say the couple was advised they should bring the infant to the hospital after an appointment at the WIC office. WIC is a federally-funded nutrition program for women, infants and children.
According to deputies, Sarmiento and Long said they didn’t have enough gas to drive to the hospital. Instead, they admitted to buying marijuana, the arrest report says.
The arrest report describes the 2-month-old victim as “severely skinny to the point of seeing prominent bone and facial features which would not normally show or protrude.” Deputies noted the baby’s skin appeared to be sagging off her legs and arms.
“The victim appeared very weak and malnourished,” deputies wrote in the arrest report. “The victim does not appear to have much color to her skin.”
During the investigation, deputies say both Sarmiento and Long appeared to be under the influence. Both had slow speech and appeared to have glassy red eyes, the arrest report says.
Sarmiento and Long were each charged with one count of child neglect.
