Florida police have arrested a 31-year-old woman for the death of a 9-monh-old boy nearly a year ago.
On July 25, 2024, a young boy named Timothy David Smith was left under the supervision of Desiree Rentz, as reported by St. Petersburg Police. Authorities were alerted when the baby didn’t respond after a nap and wouldn’t wake up.
When they arrived at the apartment, they found that “Rentz was running a daycare with more than a dozen children in her one-bedroom apartment.”
Investigations revealed that Rentz was not actually licensed to operate a daycare, as she had claimed to the parents. While she displayed licenses for temporary foster care with a single-person capacity, the state’s Department of Health and the Department of Children and Families confirmed she lacked any legitimate daycare license.
The boy’s autopsy showed that he was given a cough syrup not recommended for children under four, a fact unknown and unauthorized by his parents.
The US Marshals Service assisted in Rentz’s arrest. the was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and misrepresentation of a childcare facility resulting in death, WKMG reported.
Police did not explain why it took just short of a year to filed charges and make an arrest. She was still behind bars on Wednesday with $175,000 bond, according to jail records.
