HAILEY GOMEZ - 13 Weeks - Queens/NYC NY

A 23-year-old man was charged with assaulting his 13-week-old daughter,
whose injuries included 17 fractured ribs and a lacerated liver. The man, Juan Gomez, of Ozone Park, Queens, was arrested at 10:30 p.m.
Friday by the Queens Child Abuse Squad and charged with first- and
second-degree assault, as well as endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court late Saturday night, and Mr.
Gomez’s court-appointed lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf. “The extent of the physical injuries that this innocent and helpless
child suffered in just the first few weeks of her life is beyond
comprehension,” Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said in a statement. “That they were allegedly committed by her father boggles the mind.” Mr. Gomez is accused of abusing his daughter, Hailey, while caring for
her when her mother was at work. The girl was admitted to Schneider
Children’s Hospital at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center on Feb. 25
with fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, a broken ankle and trouble
breathing caused by a disruption to the lining of her lung, among other
injuries. Some of the injuries appeared to have been inflicted earlier,
including fractures to the leg and foot that were already healing. According to the district attorney’s office, Mr. Gomez was alone with
his daughter in late January, when he grew frustrated that she would
not stop crying and bit her on the right leg. He took charge of bathing
Hailey for the next week, so others would not notice the bite mark,
prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office said Mr. Gomez told the police and
prosecutors that he would head-butt the infant, with piercings on his
head causing bruises, and that he would throw her about a foot into the
air and catch her by “placing his hands over her rib cage.” The
prosecutor’s office also said Mr. Gomez described taking the baby’s
ankles and feet and pushing her legs back “until the feet and ankles
were bent back onto her chest.” If convicted, Mr. Gomez could face up to 15 years in prison, the district attorney’s office said. As Hugo Basso, an assistant district attorney, read a list of Hailey’s
injuries at Mr. Gomez’s arraignment, gasps could be heard throughout
the courtroom. “These were all injuries consistent with child abuse, not incidental,”
Mr. Basso said, adding that any one of them could have been life
threatening for a child of that age. At the hearing, Mr. Gomez stood nearly silent, dressed in a black,
hooded sweatshirt and jeans, with spiked ear piercings visible. His
lawyer, Gary F. Miret, said Mr. Gomez was innocent of all counts. “Many
issues will be enlightened” as the investigation proceeds, Mr. Miret
said. Mr. Basso said that authorities at the Queens Child Advocacy Center
first questioned Mr. Gomez about Hailey’s injuries on Feb. 27, when Mr.
Gomez said she was accidentally hurt while he tried to put on her
sweater. It was during a second set of interrogations on March 5, Mr.
Basso said, that Mr. Gomez acknowledged the other incidents. Judge Lenora Gerald set Mr. Gomez’s bail at $250,000 and issued an
order of protection that prohibits Mr. Gomez from contacting his
daughter. Asked Saturday evening whether there had been previous complaints to the Administration for Children’s Services about Mr. Gomez, Sharman Stein, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she had no information.