She wrote a book for kids — then she was arrested for abusing her own, Florida cops say
Children’s author Jennifer Wolfthal recently came out with her latest book, “A Real Friend” (Clavis Publishing), for ages 4 and up. Amazon describes the Florida woman’s picture book as being about kids “playing together, quarreling and patching up a quarrel.” The mother of three, 41, was also recently arrested, accused of child abuse, child neglect with bodily harm and domestic violence battery.
According to a police report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, on New Year’s Day, deputies responded to Advent Hospital in Winter Park about a child who was suffering from “an undetermined medical issue.” Doctors took the girl to the pediatric intensive care unit where the law enforcement officer was able to assess her condition more clearly.
The child, who was unconscious on a ventilator, had internal damage as well as “external lacerations, bruises, abrasions and scabs,” some still oozing with blood, said the report. The girl, who weighed only 40 pounds, also had a chipped tooth, two black eyes, a severe cut to the lip and untreated sores on her legs. The deputies made contact with Wolfthal’s husband, who said the girl had been in a series of accidents at the home.
He said the child injured herself while brushing her teeth too hard and suffered from vertigo and fell on a desk and a toilet. “Due to the height and weight of [the girl], it is not likely the swollen bruise on the back of her head and the laceration on her lip and broken tooth were caused by off balance falls,” said the complaint.
The husband, Joseph Wolfthal, said he hadn’t witnessed the incidents because he was always at work and that his wife, a former teacher, was the sole caregiver. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office then requested a well-being check on the couple’s two other children at their Casselberry, Florida, home.
There, investigators found the two minors with signs of malnutrition, bruises and injuries. The police report lists weapons as “hands, feet fists, teeth.” The children have been placed in protective custody; the husband has not been charged. Her blog, JenniferWolfthalbooks.com, has been since set to private.