Neglect of disabled girl leads to arrests

An 11-year-old quadriplegic girl who weighed only 45 pounds when she was abandoned in the hospital last summer has led to the arrests of a West Palm Beach couple.

Marcus Karl Brown, 36, and Felisha Annette Slater, 33, were picked up by deputies about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday on arrest warrants that were issued in December. They are charged with child neglect causing great bodily harm, court records show.

The child, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and is mute and blind, was left unsupervised at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach on Aug. 7. Hospital staff said she appeared to be “skin and bones,” according to police.

She also had an infected thumb that was chewed to the bone and required partial amputation. Doctors said the infection was the result of the child biting her own thumb, records show. She was treated at the hospital with a sixweek course of intravenous antibiotics.

Witnesses told police the girl appeared hungry all the time and bit her thumb as a result, the report stated.

Brown refused to return to the hospital to speak with police or the Department of Children and

Families. A case worker told investigators several attempts were made to try to help with the child’s doctor visits but Brown and Slater demonstrated an “utter unwillingness to cooperate,” police said.

The DCF has a case file dating back to 2008. The agency’s investigations listed incidents of medical neglect, substance misuse,

inadequate supervision, malnutrition, dehydration, family violence and threats among other things.

DCF case workers made repeated attempts to contact Brown and Slater between the time the child was dropped off at the hospital and the arrest warrants were issued on Dec. 30, police said.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office found and arrested the couple at a home in the 1100 block of Seventh Street in West Palm Beach, records show.

Brown and Slater were released from the Palm Beach County Jail Tuesday night on bonds of $5,000 each, records show.