Infant in medically induced coma

SMITH COUNTY — Records reveal new details leading up to the arrest of three Smith County women for child endangerment, after a two-month-old was placed in a medically induced coma.

According to our news partner KETK, medical staff at a local Tyler hospital alerted Child Protective Services after Sidney Whitt, 21, came in with her two-month-old, stating “she hadn’t had a wet diaper in three days and she was fatigued,” a Smith County affidavit revealed. While at the hospital, the baby reportedly began having seizures, lasting about an hour, and had visible bruises on her face, cheek and jawline. Hospital staff believed that seizures may have been caused by having been violently shaken.

The infant was then transported to a hospital in Dallas for further medical care.

In a later interview, a report revealed that Whitt had left her children locked in a bedroom when leaving to meet with Jacqulyn Morales, her roommate, and her boyfriend at a hotel where they consumed alcohol and drugs. Whitt’s and Morales’ children were left under the care of Shelby Munoz, Morales’ 18-year-old sister.

During that time, Whitt learned that her infant was allegedly shaken and thrown into the bassinet and that other children present in the house were rough with her kids. Officials said Whitt checked on the baby, who “was staring off into space, but Whitt did not think anything of it, at least not for a couple of hours.”

Whitt took the baby to the hospital three days later, when she began “acting weird and having seizures.”

Following the investigation, Whitt, Morales and Munoz were arrested for abandonment or endangerment of a child involving imminent danger and injury to a child. As of Monday evening, the three women remain in the Smith County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said the infant is on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.