A 33-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday on child neglect charges after she allegedly left her daughter alone in the bath tub where she nearly drowned.
Simone Da Silva Rocha, of Boynton Beach, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $3,000 bond.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a Boynton Beach Police detective was dispatched to Bethesda Memorial Hospital about 7:20 p.m. July 18 to investigate reports of a child who nearly drowned in a bathtub.
The detective met the child's stepfather, whose name is withheld in the report, who said that his wife, Rocha, was folding clothes and giving her daughter a bath, when the couple began speaking about their deteriorating relationship.
The husband said Rocha then went to check on the child, whose name and age are also withheld in the report, and returned screaming and holding her, according to the affidavit. He said she was not breathing.
Boynton Beach Fire Rescue responded to the couple's home in the 500 block of Bayfront Drive, where they found the child breathing.
While speaking with the detective, Rocha said that she was gone for no more than three minutes before she noticed that her daughter wasn't making any noises, the affidavit stated. "Rocha stated that she knows it was wrong for her to leave [the child] unattended."
Detectives received a medical report on Aug. 16 that stated "a child can drown when left in a half-inch of water."
The detective noted that a further review showed: "Rocha did fail to provide supervision to her child that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the child."
