Daytona Beach, FL - A mother who has had three children removed by child protective services already is arrested by police after they found her baby starving and underweight.
That's the story from Daytona Beach police after they arrested 36-year-old Angela Dmitryev when they found her child who seemed to be malnourished and underweight.
Police first ran into Dmitryev last Wednesday (October 24th) close to 10 a.m. in reference to a well-being check on a child at the Burger King on ISB near the Volusia Mall.
That's where they found the child in a stroller with two adults, Dmitryev and another male who identified as her father and the child's grandfather. Both of them told police that they were not homeless and that they were just vacationers who have been in the area for several weeks.
They told officers that they had traveled to Daytona Beach from Colorado Springs on Amtrak. But, her father said that he traveled alone. She then stated that she flew from Washington to Orlando with her daughter where she met her father.
As they talked to police, the officer noticed that the child was drinking what appeared to be orange soda out of a baby bottle, later finding a two-liter bottle of orange soda in Dmitryev's possession.
Officers noted that the child looked like she had not been bathed or cleaned at all for several days, possibly weeks. She also seemed to be underweight according to officers.
However, Dmitryev said that wasn't the case and that she was cleaning her daughter. She showed officers that she had a supply of diapers, but officers saw she had no wipes. Dmitryev also showed officers that she had a few pouches of baby food, but nowhere near enough for the rest of the day.
According to the narrative, she said they both of them were out of money so they couldn't afford any more food for her daughter.
Police later contacted Dmitryev the next day at her motel room, calling three separate times. Officers say each time they contacted her they could hear her daughter crying in the background each time. When officers asked if she needed anything she began to yell at them.
She told officers that her daughter had GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) which is a digestive disorder that affects the lower esophageal sphincter, the ring of muscle between the esophagus and stomach. She also told them that her daughter had a gap in her voicebox.
Officer then started to get concerned that the daughter's medical conditions were being neglected and reported their suspicion to the Florida Abuse Hotline of the Department of Children and Families.
Soon, an investigator with the Department of Children and Families met with the daughter and Dmitryev.
On their first contact, Dmitryev began to get very belligerent with explosive outbursts, sometimes having outbursts as she held her daughter.
The investigator concluded that medical intervention was needed for the child.
The child, along with Dmitryev were transported to Halifax Health Medical Center where the child would need to be medically cleared.
According to staff at the hospital, on first sight they said the child was "definitely underweight" and that she looked "like a skeleton." She weighed in at just a little over 15 pounds.
One of the nurses told authorities that while it doesn't look like the child is being abused, she's definitely being neglected.
A doctor at Halifax Health reported that the mother told them her daughter was prescribed medication for her condition. But doctors said if she was given the medication then the child would have been eating normal food, not the soft foods Dmitryev had reportedly been feeding her.
Doctors then determined the child could not be medically cleared.
When doctors told Dmitryev that she could stay with her daughter, she declined, saying she needed to go talk to her partner "face to face." When it was suggested that she call him instead, she still refused and left.
Doctors told police her response seemed alarming.
One of the Child Protective Investigators made contact with Catherine Gray, the Alaska Child Protective Services supervisor (as Dmitryev is an Alaskan resident). Gray told investigators that Dmitryev has a history with Child Protective Services in Alaska.
She has had three children removed from her and has an open report from September of this year, where parental relatives were concerned about how she cared for her kids and that they constantly did not know where she was.
It wouldn't be long before CPI would shelter her daughter as they felt Dmitryev was behaving violent and impulsive in ways that might harm her.
She was later arrested on Friday (October 26th) and charged with child neglect. She's currently held at Volusia County Jail on $5,000 bond.
