Yes, Mom apparently had some problems with a property crime (grand theft). But that hardly justified giving custody to the useless sperm donor. Just three weeks after getting custody of the newborn daughter, dad NATHAN MADDOX--who had a criminal drug history IN ADDITION to the same ongoing grand theft case against him--"allegedly" murdered her. The baby died of blunt force trauma to the head. Way to go DCF....
Just wondering. Why was Mom in jail for grand theft, while daddy was playing "stay-at-home" with the baby when he was charged with the same thing? Weird.
http://www.wpbf.com/news/29488519/detail.html
DCF Investigating Father Arrested In Newborn's Death
Investigators Trying To Determine If Man Should Have Been Given Custody Of 3-Week-Old
Terri Parker, Reporter
POSTED: 5:37 pm EDT October 14, 2011
JUPITER, Fla. -- The Department of Children and Families is investigating whether a man accused of killing his 3-week-old daughter should have been given custody of his newborn child.
Nathan Maddox was a 23-year-old with a criminal drug history and an ongoing grand theft case against him when he obtained custody of his newborn daughter, Shelby, last year. Maddox and the infant lived there alone because the child's mother, Sarah Kirkbride, was in jail facing the same grand theft charge as Maddox.
"That a biological parent has a criminal history does not in and of itself preclude them from taking custody of their child," a DCF spokesman said in a statement. "But yes, in any case, it would be of interest to our investigators."
Three weeks after Maddox got custody, paramedics were called to a CVS pharmacy by his mother, who had just picked up Shelby from his house.
According to the probable cause document, when paramedics arrived, they found Shelby unconscious, unresponsive with no heartbeat and with a pink fluid coming from her nose and mouth.
The newborn girl died at the hospital.
Police said Maddox initially claimed the baby had been sick for several days, but an autopsy showed differently.
"The medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be blunt head trauma and ruled it a homicide," Jupiter police spokesman Scott Pascarella said.
Police said Maddox then changed his story.
"He initially indicated that he had fallen with the child in his arms, but the child's head never came in contact with anything," Pascarella said.
Police investigated Shelby's death for almost a year before arresting Maddox on a second-degree murder charge last week. Maddox also faces a charge of trafficking in oxycodone.