State police accuse former Hempfield woman of abusing infant son

Two days after arresting a 35-year-old Hempfield man on accusations of abusing an infant boy in his care, state police arrested the child’s mother Friday on an identical charge.

Danielle R. Thompson, 28, who has no fixed address listed in court documents, was arraigned Friday on a charge of child endangerment after a five-month investigation.

Matthew Anson Nathaniel Davis, who lived in Carbon, was arrested Wednesday. Both Davis and Thompson are being held in the county jail on $150,000 bond.

According to court documents, the infant was removed from the custody of Davis, who is the boy’s father, after the mother left him Oct. 22 and went to a domestic violence shelter.

The infant was admitted to the intensive care unit at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh due to near-fatal brain bleeding, according to court papers.

After being released from the hospital Oct. 29, the child was placed with a foster family. On Nov. 10, Trooper Philip Dern reported the child was readmitted to the hospital after suffering seizures.

Dr. Jennifer Wolford, a UPMC pediatrician, told Dern the injuries were the result of being shaken “and a clear indication of child abuse,” according to court documents.

Thompson denied to police that she ever shook the child and told investigators that she never saw Davis shake the child, according to court documents. But Dern alleges that both parents were responsible for the child’s injuries.

“Based on the information obtained during this investigation, Thompson and Davis engaged in a course and pattern of conduct that endangered the health, safety and welfare of (the child) by subjecting him to ongoing harm and injuries,” Dern wrote.

According to online dockets, Thompson is serving a three-year probation sentence after pleading guilty last year to child endangerment. State police filed the charge in December 2019, claiming she left two children under the age of 4 unsupervised in her former East Huntingdon apartment that was reported to be in “deplorable condition” and heated by an oven.

Along with probation, Judge Scott Mears ordered Thompson to have no contact with the children and to undergo a mental health evaluation, according to online dockets.

State police said the infant child involved in the current case remains in foster care.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled April 19.