Charge: Woman burned infant's face with laundry soap
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Prosecutors have charged a woman accused of committing a "bizarre assault" on an infant using laundry detergent.
Mabinty Williams, 33, of Federal Way has been charged with assault of a child in the second degree.
Williams was babysitting her friends' 4-week-old baby at her home on Jan. 10 when she knocked on the neighbor's door. She told her neighbors there was a baby in her house and she wasn't sure how the baby had gotten there, said the statement of probable cause.
"It's a baby, and it's evil," Williams told her neighbors, who could hear the baby crying next door.
The neighbors called 911, and police arrived at the apartment complex in the 29200 block of Military Rd. S. to find Williams standing
outside her unit and the baby crying inside.
Williams told investigators she was caring for the baby when the baby apparently "changed." She said she was "afraid of the baby in her house," the statement said.
Officers found the baby on the couch inside the apartment, "gasping for air" and covered in white powder that had apparently been dumped on her face. A large jar of formula on the baby's left arm was pinning the baby down.
As officers began to brush the white powder off of the baby's face, they saw that the baby's eyes were red and swollen. There was also apparent burns on the baby's mouth, which was dotted with droplets of blood
Medics were called to treat the baby, who was whimpering, according to police. Doctors later determined the baby had suffered chemical burns to the mouth and eyes.
Investigators obtained a search warrant, and found on Williams' couch a large quantity of white powder dotted with blue fleck, as well as a "large wet spot" on the back of the spot that "smelled as if it may have been vomit." Police also found "a laundry soap type scoop in the powder on the couch," and near it a "32 oz. jar of 'Totally Awesome Oxygen Based Cleaner."
Also found on the couch was another type of powder - a "finer granular type substance," and a container of Morton's table salt could be seen on the top of a nearby trash bin.
"It appeared it was nearly the whole 32 oz container of detergent, and additionally there was another substance, most likely to be salt, also poured on to the baby's face," detectives wrote.
Williams' husband said she had called him several times throughout the day "regarding problems with the baby," asking him "how to get the baby out of the car seat" and "how to get the diaper off," the document said.
The man said the phone calls prompted him to stop by his home during his work day. He told detectives he was driving his work car with his co-worker on board, but he decided to stop at home because he "felt the situation was urgent enough to go home right then."
Williams' husband said he arrived at home to find his wife of 16 years angry. She told him, "You have to take the baby back," and when he said he could not take the baby in his work car, Williams said, "I'm not going to watch the baby."
Williams' husband said he fed the baby a bottle, then told his wife he'd be back in 30 minutes in his own car to take the baby. Williams was quite upset her husband was leaving, the man said, but he did not feel the baby was in danger. He added his wife was known to act erratically at times.
When he came back 30 minutes later, police were on the scene.
When questioned by detectives, Williams said the baby was "whining" and she called her husband because she "couldn't figure out 'how to get the thing out (of the car seat).'"
She said she'd gone to get help from her neighbors because the baby's eyes "went blue."
Asked about powder covering the baby's face, Williams said, "I didn't do anything."
Williams has no prior criminal record. She is being held on $100,000 bail.
Mabinty Williams, 33, of Federal Way has been charged with assault of a child in the second degree.
Williams was babysitting her friends' 4-week-old baby at her home on Jan. 10 when she knocked on the neighbor's door. She told her neighbors there was a baby in her house and she wasn't sure how the baby had gotten there, said the statement of probable cause.
"It's a baby, and it's evil," Williams told her neighbors, who could hear the baby crying next door.
The neighbors called 911, and police arrived at the apartment complex in the 29200 block of Military Rd. S. to find Williams standing
outside her unit and the baby crying inside.
Williams told investigators she was caring for the baby when the baby apparently "changed." She said she was "afraid of the baby in her house," the statement said.
Officers found the baby on the couch inside the apartment, "gasping for air" and covered in white powder that had apparently been dumped on her face. A large jar of formula on the baby's left arm was pinning the baby down.
As officers began to brush the white powder off of the baby's face, they saw that the baby's eyes were red and swollen. There was also apparent burns on the baby's mouth, which was dotted with droplets of blood
Medics were called to treat the baby, who was whimpering, according to police. Doctors later determined the baby had suffered chemical burns to the mouth and eyes.
Investigators obtained a search warrant, and found on Williams' couch a large quantity of white powder dotted with blue fleck, as well as a "large wet spot" on the back of the spot that "smelled as if it may have been vomit." Police also found "a laundry soap type scoop in the powder on the couch," and near it a "32 oz. jar of 'Totally Awesome Oxygen Based Cleaner."
Also found on the couch was another type of powder - a "finer granular type substance," and a container of Morton's table salt could be seen on the top of a nearby trash bin.
"It appeared it was nearly the whole 32 oz container of detergent, and additionally there was another substance, most likely to be salt, also poured on to the baby's face," detectives wrote.
Williams' husband said she had called him several times throughout the day "regarding problems with the baby," asking him "how to get the baby out of the car seat" and "how to get the diaper off," the document said.
The man said the phone calls prompted him to stop by his home during his work day. He told detectives he was driving his work car with his co-worker on board, but he decided to stop at home because he "felt the situation was urgent enough to go home right then."
Williams' husband said he arrived at home to find his wife of 16 years angry. She told him, "You have to take the baby back," and when he said he could not take the baby in his work car, Williams said, "I'm not going to watch the baby."
Williams' husband said he fed the baby a bottle, then told his wife he'd be back in 30 minutes in his own car to take the baby. Williams was quite upset her husband was leaving, the man said, but he did not feel the baby was in danger. He added his wife was known to act erratically at times.
When he came back 30 minutes later, police were on the scene.
When questioned by detectives, Williams said the baby was "whining" and she called her husband because she "couldn't figure out 'how to get the thing out (of the car seat).'"
She said she'd gone to get help from her neighbors because the baby's eyes "went blue."
Asked about powder covering the baby's face, Williams said, "I didn't do anything."
Williams has no prior criminal record. She is being held on $100,000 bail.
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