Broward woman arrested after girlfriend's son hospitalized with serious injuries

A woman was arrested in Broward after her girlfriend’s young son was hospitalized with serious injuries including multiple fractures, weeks after the child’s mother was arrested, authorities said.

Deniqua Yvonne Lovett, 34, was arrested Sunday on a charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm following a Miramar Police investigation, an arrest affidavit said.

The child’s mother, 29-year-old Veronica Ruffin, of Miramar, was arrested on a similar charge back on Nov. 24, records showed.

According to the affidavit, the investigation began after the boy, whose name and age were redacted, was brought to Memorial West Hospital on Sept. 4 with swelling to his head and elbow.

He was transferred to Joe DiMaggio Children’s hospital and was found to have suffered multiple injuries, including head abrasions, a burned ear, bruising to the lower abdomen, an elbow fracture, multiple rib fractures, a collarbone fracture, wrist fractures, and a knee fracture, the affidavit said.

The mother, Ruffin, told authorities her girlfriend, Lovett, often cares for the child while she’s at work, and Lovett had claimed the boy had fallen off a slide at a playground, the affidavit said.

The affidavit said that Lovett could tell the child’s arm was out of place “because he was trying to grab his giraffe toy, and he wasn’t holding it like he would normally hold it, and his arm was just lying down.”

Lovett said he fell from the side of the slide and she noticed a limp in his arm and “thought his whole arm was fractured,” the affidavit said.

It was also claimed that the boy’s injury to his ribs were caused by him falling off a bed weeks earlier, the affidavit said.

Lovett also said she had accidentally burned his ear while using a hot comb.

While the boy was receiving treatment, it was determined that the elbow fracture happened anywhere from 2-4 days prior to his hospitalization, the affidavit said.

“Also, the fact that his injuries went unreported for multiple days was remarkable because of the nature and severity of the injury,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit added that the fractured collarbone, wrist, knee and ribs were “consistent with non-accidental trauma.”

The last time he was observed to be in good health was a pediatric well visit on Aug. 11.

“The evidence of injuries at different stages of healing, indicate that [the child] sustained inflicted trauma on multiple occasions in the weeks leading up to his recent hospitalization,” the affidavit said.

The boy, who has a speech delay and expressive language disorder, was discharged from the hospital on Sept. 10, and days later, he was placed in the care of his maternal aunt after a shelter hearing, the affidavit said.

Lovett, of Fort Lauderdale, was booked into jail and appeared before a judge who set her bond at $100,000.

On Tuesday, Lovett spoke with NBC6, maintaining she did nothing to harm the toddler and said she didn’t know why she was arrested a month after the mother.