The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
The mother of a 9-month-old infant is facing charges after she was accused of putting laxative medication into her child’s IV in an alleged attempt to starve him while he was hospitalized.
Megan Lee Kafer, 25, and her husband have been married for four years and live in Minnesota with their two children.
In July, the Kafers’ son was admitted to the hospital for treatment when he was failing to gain weight and the cause for this was not known.
The hospital implemented different methods to try to assist the boy in gaining weight, but they were not having any success. This led to suspicions that the child’s mother may have been doing something to prevent her son from benefitting from the medical intervention.
The allegations were reported to the authorities, and the hospital employees put the baby into a room with surveillance equipment.
When the staff, along with a sergeant from the St. Paul Police Department, got together to view what the recording had picked up they allegedly saw a woman fitting the description of Megan Kafer holding the baby in a blanket and performing an action that looked as if she was using a syringe to tamper with the contents of his feeding tube.
Kafer was located, and when a search of her belongings turned up two boxes of MiraLax she reportedly told them that she was taking the medicine herself. She also was reported as explaining that she was trying to give her son water to assist in the efforts for him to gain weight.
Kafer was taken into custody and charged with felony child endangerment and her parental rights were suspended. When her cell phone was searched the authorities purport that her search history displayed that she looked up different methods of poisoning and harming children, including a news story about a woman convicted for poisoning her child.
She could face a maximum penalty of 5 years of incarceration and a $10,000 fine if Kafer is found guilty.
Kafer’s husband gave a statement regarding the incident and he said that his wife has been suffering from mental issues and that they are working “to get the family back together in a way that is safe and healthy.” Kafer disclosed in a 2016 interview that she has post-traumatic stress disorder, and her husband said that she is now in therapy and on medication. He additionally feels that the complaint against his wife skews the details of what actually transpired in the situation.
If you or someone you love is suspected of child endangerment, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.