Teenage mother charged with aggravated child abuse

Tosha M. Bartrum

Investigators from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office arrested a teenage mother on Thursday after they say she struck her 6-month-old baby in the head with a bottle, resulting in the baby being airlifted to a Miami hospital.

Tosha M. Bartrum, 19, whose address was not listed on an arrest report, was charged with one count of aggravated child abuse and one count of child abuse without great harm.

Investigators learned that on Dec. 18, a woman Bartrum lives with awoke to Bartrum and one of her twin babies crying, according to an arrest report. Bartrum told the woman she was aggravated with the children and threw a bottle at the head of one of the babies.

Friends and relatives told authorities that the baby had a bruise, a knot and a hand print on its head, the arrest report said.

Bartrum then dropped the children off at the home of a man, whose name was also not released.

Later that night the man told investigators the baby began crying with its head cocked to one side, authorities said. Another witness told authorities the baby was stiff, and appeared to be convulsing.

Paramedics arrived and airlifted the baby to a Miami hospital, officials said. Witnesses told authorities that about a week before being hit with a bottle, the baby had a black eye, which Bartrum blamed on one of her other children.

Bartrum turned herself in to authorities on Thursday.