Left: Jesse Smith. Right: Jordan Moore (Santa Rosa County Jail).
A mother and her boyfriend are facing charges after a toddler girl suffered fractures to her arm, leg and ribs, a bite mark and bruising throughout her body, along with her two bottom teeth being knocked out, according to Florida authorities.
Jordan Moore, 28, stands accused of child neglect while her boyfriend Jesse Smith, 29, is charged with aggravated child abuse. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in the Sunshine State’s Panhandle began investigating Jan. 8 when the girl, whose age was not revealed, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries in various stages of healing that authorities believe were the result of child abuse, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
Moore told police that she had custody of the kids and they were with their father from Dec. 27 and Jan. 5. She allegedly said she noticed some cuts on her elbow, but it didn’t seem serious. Cops say the abuse occurred while Smith was watching her. In a post Miranda interview with detectives, Moore denied her boyfriend abused the girl. She blamed the fractures on “Brittle Bone Disease” but doctors ran tests that showed the girl did not suffer from the genetic ailment, which causes bones to be easily breakable. Moore also insisted Smith did not watch the girl for long periods of time. Messages on her phone, however, tell a different story.
Moore allegedly texted her co-defendant on Dec. 22: “You purposely hit her head on the door. All I did was ask why you did that then you threw her in the backseat. You act like you hate my kids and it hurts. I’m so good to your kids and treat them like they are my own and you act like you can’t stand [the victim].”
