A couple accused of abusing their 1-month-old baby girl has been formally charged with battery in Miller County, Ark.
Charles Uribe, 28, and Crystal Uribe, 23, are both listed on a felony information filed Monday in Miller County Circuit Court by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell. The Uribes are charged with battery, first-degree, of a child under 4 years of age.
The offense is punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.
The couple was arrested in February after staff at Wadley Hospital in Texarkana contacted authorities about the infant, who was 1-month at the time. The baby was suffering from fractured ribs in various stages of healing which could mean the child was assaulted on more than one occasion.
The Uribe’s infant daughter was also suffering from two breaks to her pelvis and had an injury to her esophagus officials said could have been caused by someone shoving something into the child’s throat. The baby is expected to recover.
Both Charles Uribe and Crystal Uribe are being held in the Miller County jail with bail set for each at $250,000. At a bond hearing for Crystal Uribe last month, investigator Patsy DeHart of the Miller County Sheriff’s Office said the abused infant is not the first child to be removed from Crystal Uribe’s custody. DeHart said Crystal Uribe’s parental rights to a different child were previously terminated by officials in Montana.
Crystal Uribe’s attorney, Danny Cook of Texarkana, has filed a petition for divorce on Crystal Uribe’s behalf. At the bond hearing, Crystal Uribe blamed her husband for the baby’s injuries. Charles Uribe is represented by an Arkansas public defender.
The case charging both husband and wife has been assigned to Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. A date for trial has not been scheduled.
