According to police in Osceola County, Florida, a child is on life support after being discovered unresponsive with their head in a toilet at a hotel.
22-year-old Larry Rhodes was apprehended last week and charged with child neglect.
On July 5, authorities arrived at a Knights Inn in Kissimmee after a call about a drowning, citing that someone’s head was in a toilet.
Documents indicate that 8 people were found in the room. This includes Rhodes, his girlfriend Bianca Blaise, 25; and six children. Their ages range from a baby younger than 1-year-old to 6 years old.
One of the six children was found without a pulse and not breathing. Therefore, CPR was performed. The child was transported to Arnold Palmer Hospital with a serious brain bleed and was on a ventilator.
Officers added that another child had been hurt as their eyes were swollen and mouth was bloodied. To add, deputies discovered another child with several wounds and bruises on their face.
Rhodes and Blaise told authorities that the siblings had gotten into a physical altercation inside of the hotel room.
Detectives say that other children in the room had several injuries, and one had bleeding in his left eyeball.
All of the children involved had been transported to a medical facility for treatment.
Witnesses in other rooms told police that they heard a loud thud about 5 to 10 minutes prior to authorities arriving. They believed that it was a child who had fallen.
When authorities searched the room, blood and two guns with several magazines were found.
In an interview that occurred later, Blaise told officers that she and Rhodes disciplined the children, including spankings. The children were also forced to stand in a corner and perform exercises.
Blaise told authorities that when she got back to the hotel room on July 5, she discovered one of the children with their head in the toilet. At first, she stated that it looked as though the child was drinking water from the bowl. When Rhodes went into the bathroom, he then told Blaise to call 911.
Rhodes and Blaise have been charged with six counts of child neglect with great bodily harm with a bail of $15,000 each. After her arrest, Blaise bonded out of jail.
