ALLENWOOD – A man has been accused of seriously injuring an infant he was caring for in Union County while her mother was at work.
Owen Wesley Moore, 31, of Cogan Station in Lycoming County, was arraigned Thursday on charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. He was committed to the Union County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.
According to state police the 5-month-old girl is a patient at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville and her prognosis is undetermined.
Moore is accused of injuring the infant on April 30 in a trailer home on Court Drive in the Allenwood area.
The following is taken from the arrest affidavit in support of the charges:
The baby’s mother before leaving for work had given her daughter a bottle. The infant had fallen asleep in her pack and play in the living room before the mother left for work.
At 10:09 a.m. Moore texted the woman to say her daughter had choked on the formula, she had gone limp, he had called 911 and attempted to get the baby to breathe.
He explained in the message he tried to shake her but not too much, he put her on the floor and a 911 dispatcher talked him through getting her to breathe again.
Moore gave this account when interviewed, according to the affidavit:
He prepared a bottle as instructed, placed the baby in her bouncer unsecured and after she ingested about three-fourths of the bottle he went to the back of the trailer to retrieve a drink.
He was gone only 20 seconds but heard her cough or choke. He picked her up and “she was limp.” He shook her a little bit and bounced her in his arms.
He noticed she was not breathing so he put her on the floor, pinched her nose and “gave her little chest compressions.” The 911 woman told him to roll her over and clear her airway.
Dr. Paul Bellino, a pediatrician at Geisinger, disputed Moore’s version. He told Trooper Jessica Naschke:
“I am unaware of any medical disease that within 20 seconds can take an otherwise well baby and make them completely unresponsive with flaccid paralysis but also choking at the same time.”
Bellino told the investigator the infant had suffered a traumatic physical injury and from the lack of oxygen to the brain. He estimated she had been without oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes.
Following a May 9 examination, Bellino told Naschke the baby was found to have subdural hematomas as well as a central nervous system injury.
The nervous system injury is consistent with what is seen in children who are the victim of abusive head trauma, he told the investigator.
An examination by another pediatrician revealed traumatic brain injury, the affidavit states.
It is Bellino’s opinion, according to the document, the infant’s injuries came from being shook rather than any resuscitative measures attempted by Moore.
A Union County Children and Youth caseworker on Wednesday reported a skeletal examination revealed a broken tibia on her left leg that Bellino attributed to violent pulling on the foot, the charges state.
That type of injury is child abuse and there is no activity in which a child of that age could engage that would cause it, he told Naschke.
According to online court records, Moore had been free on $5,000 bail awaiting trial in Bucks County on drug charges. He also has two drunken driving convictions and one for possession of drug paraphernalia in Lycoming County.
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