"Primary caretaker" dad admits to shaking 14-week-old daughter (Lafayette, Indiana)

Dad MATTHEW T. SCHULTZ has pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, a Class B felony.

Seems Dad was acting as "primary caretaker" (unemployed babysitter) of his 14-week-old daughter since his wife had to work, and we have no decent maternity leaves in this country. Well, it was just too "frustrating" for Daddy, so he'd get "angry" when the baby did outrageous things like, well, crying. So he shook the baby on "several occasions" (basically over the entirety of her two-month existence) till her eyes were crossed and she was foaming at the mouth. The baby suffered retinal damage and bleeding on the brain from the abusive head trauma. Doctors believe the effects of the injuries will be lifelong.

Dad just has a laundry lists of excuses--everything but the heartbreak of psoriasis. He's got attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depression, "anger problems", and "probably substance abuse, too." Oh, and though he's listed on the baby's birth certificate, he's not REALLY the father. He's really the stepdad. Like that explains anything. Why not just admit that you're an abusive @$$wipe who shouldn't be around babies or other living things?

http://www.jconline.com/article/20100108/NEWS09/100108019/Lafayette-man-admits-to-shaking-infant

Lafayette man admits to shaking infant
By SOPHIA VORAVONG • svoravong@jconline.com • January 8, 2010

A Lafayette man faces up to 15 years in prison for causing severe head and brain injuries that hospitalized his infant stepdaughter for several weeks this past summer.

Matthew T. Schulz, 21, pleaded guilty this morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 to neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, a Class B felony.

He admitted to shaking his stepdaughter, Chloe Schulz, because he would get frustrated and angry when the girl cried.

Schulz told Judge Randy Williams that he suffered from depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a youth and took medication until he was 16 or 17 years old.

He said he currently suffers from "bipolar disorder, depression, anger problems ... and probably substance abuse, too."

According to court documents, Shulz was Chloe's primary caregiver while his wife was at work. The girl was 14 weeks old when she was taken to St. Elizabeth Central hospital on June 19, 2009.

She was foaming at the mouth and her eyes were crossed.

Chloe was then flown to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. She had injuries that indicated she was shaken on different occasions over two months, beginning shortly after Chloe was born on March 8, 2009.

Those injuries included retinal hemorrhages in both eyes and blood on her brain, indicating abusive head trauma. The effects of her injuries will likely be lifelong.

At the time, the family lived in an apartment on Lafayette's south end. Though Schulz is listed on the girl's birth certificate, he said today that he is not Chloe's biological father.

Under Schulz's plea agreement with the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office, he faces between six and 15 years in prison. A Class B felony is typically punishable by up to 20 years incarceration.

He also is prohibited from appealing his sentence and cannot care for a child under age 15 upon release from prison.

Schulz is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 26.