MOM CHARGED IN 5-YEAR-OLD FOSTER CHILD'S DEATH

Miami Herald, The (FL)

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA -- A 40-year-old mother was charged Wednesday in the death of a 5-year-old foster child who police said was bashed in the head with a board for not saying his prayers properly.

Rosa Lee Jones was arrested at the Hillsborough County Courthouse where she was attending a dependency hearing for other children. She had five children, ranging in age from 4 to 7. They were all foster children, but she had adopted three of them, investigators said.

The other children were taken into protective custody by the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

Jones, of suburban Clair-Mel City, was charged with second- degree homicide and aggravated child abuse in the Jan. 9 death of little Albert Smith.

Jones, accompanied by her husband Nathaniel and the other four children, took Albert to a Brandon hospital and said the child stopped breathing en route, police said.

The child was revived at the hospital and placed in intensive care. He died while being readied for transport to Tampa General Hospital later that day.

An autopsy determined cause of death was a blow to the skull.

Investigators said the child was hit once, and when he still didn't say his prayers correctly, he was struck in the head a second time.