MADISON - A Fitchburg woman was charged Wednesday with five counts of child neglect, some related to conditions in her home on the day in February that her 4-month-old son died.
The misdemeanor charges against Jerwanda I. Stallworth, 21, do not allege that she caused the death of the infant,
who likely died from asphyxiation after being left in his crib with a pile of clothes and a plastic bag, according to a criminal complaint.
According to the complaint,
Stallworth told police on Feb. 24 that her 4-year-old son said he heard the infant crying and picked him up from his bassinet, then dropped him on his head. The boy told her he then put the baby, who was bleeding, into the crib to which the bassinet was attached, the complaint states.
Stallworth told police she was sleeping in the living room and did not hear the infant crying. Later, when she picked up the infant, he was not breathing and his face had been resting partially on the plastic bag, the complaint states.
In February 2007 Stallworth's two children were placed in protective custody by the Dane County Department of Human Services after police found filthy and unsanitary conditions in her apartment in Madison. Two of the neglect charges relate to that incident.
Stallworth also was charged with one count of conspiracy to deliver marijuana after police said they found more than 1½ pounds of marijuana in her home on the day of her son's death.
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