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Father Accused In Baby's Shaking Injury

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By MIKE WELLS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

TAMPA - A Tampa father is suspected of shaking his 3-week-old daughter vigorously, causing brain damage, according to an arrest report.

The incident happened April 10 while Jose Roberto Estrada-Reyes, 27, was babysitting his daughter, police said. Doctors told police she had suffered bleeding surrounding the brain, retinal hemorrhages, a skull fracture and a subdural hematoma - a traumatic brain injury.

Estrada-Reyes appeared via a video screen in a Hillsborough County courtroom Friday for arraignment on one count of aggravated child abuse.

The mother of the infant, Alicia Rodriguez, 19, shares another child with Estrada-Reyes and told Judge Walter C. Heinrich she was working when the baby's injuries occurred.

Police and doctors "said while I was at work, something happened to the baby in order for it to get a brain fracture," Rodriguez said.

"Who else could have done it?" Heinrich asked.

"The babysitter," she said.

She told Heinrich that she had gotten custody back of the child on April 16 and that the baby was "doing OK, normal." She also said the infant had an appointment scheduled with a neurosurgeon later this month.

An assistant state attorney expressed concern about the father being released, noting Rodriguez appeared to have a favorable attitude toward Estrada-Reyes.

Heinrich said this was not an offense in which he could hold a defendant without bail, which he set at $20,000, telling Estrada-Reyes to stay away from his family.

"Your relationship with this lady and with this child is over, as well as your other child," Heinrich said. "I will not allow you to be around them at this point."

This was not the first time police had investigated violence in the family's home.

The baby girl was born March 18. Six days earlier, police arrested Estrada-Reyes on a domestic battery charge, according to police reports.

His girlfriend's mother, Sherri L. Rodriguez, 47, had been living with them for about a year and told police Estrada-Reyes had punched and pushed her because he said the TV was turned up too loud for him to sleep.

Estrada-Reyes denied hitting Sherri Rodriguez, and she did not require medical care, according to the incident report.

On March 19, the state attorney's office abandoned the charge, state records show.

The victim failed to appear in court, a prosecutor told Heinrich.

Police have notified federal immigration officials that Estrada-Reyes is in the country illegally, McElroy said. Further charges are pending against him, she said.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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