By Heather M. Smith, hsmith@acnpapers.com
Published: Friday, April 9, 2010 6:19 PM CDT

The mother of a 3-year-old who was beaten to death last week was arrested Sunday and charged with recklessly causing injury to a child resulting in serious bodily injury.

Authorities believe Sharon Worthy, 19, of Bowie failed to call police or seek medical attention for her toddler after she saw her boyfriend, Curtis Leon Copeland, 26, abuse the boy, according to Denton County authorities.

Worthy was in the Denton County Jail on Sunday with bail set at $250,000. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Jesse Fleming Fisher Jr., 3, died the afternoon of March 31 at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth from blunt trauma to the head and brain, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

While at Cook Children’s in the pediatric intensive care unit, medical personnel observed that Jesse had a broken pelvis, a broken vertebra, a head injury and bruises all over his body. He had also been sexually assaulted, according to arrest warrant affidavits. His death was ruled a homicide, according to Denton County authorities.

Copeland was arrested and accused of capital murder in connection with Jesse’s death.

On March 25, Worthy called Copeland saying she and her two children were on their way to his house, according to the affidavit. She called back about 10 minutes later and said “Oh my God, Jesse fell down the stairs.” Copeland asked if he was OK; she said he was up walking around and appeared to be OK.

Copeland said when they arrived at his house Jesse appeared to be moving more slowly than usual, he had bruises all over his body and a raised bump on the back of his head. When Curtis gave Jesse a bath later on he noticed more bruising, according to the affidavit. He said he also began to notice a change in Jesse’s eating habits.

Jesse’s peculiar behavior and eating habits continued on March 27, according to the affidavit. Copeland said Jesse threw up, and Copeland told him to wash up. He said he found Jesse lying on the bathroom floor having what looked like a seizure. When he took the child to bed he said he seemed to come out of it.

On March 30, Jesse and 1-year-old Malachi Nathaniel Yeley, Worthy’s other child, were at Copeland’s house with him, according to the affidavit. Worthy was scheduled to have induced labor at a hospital in Bridgeport. According to the affidavit, Worthy asked Copeland to watch her children while she had the baby. Copeland is not the father of any of the children, authorities have said. Jesse's father is in prison in or near San Antonio, according to the affidavit.

On the day Worthy was at the hospital having her third child, Jesse told Copeland that he was tired. After Jesse walked out of the room, Copeland said he heard a thud, walked into the room and found Jesse lying on the floor unconscious and limp, according to the affidavit. Copeland asked his neighbor to call 911.

Copeland performed CPR on Jesse until the Sanger Fire Department EPS arrived. Copeland said mucus came out of Jesse’s nose, then brown liquid, according to the affidavit. When authorities arrived, Jesse was unresponsive and had blood coming out of his ears and nose. He was transported to Texas Health Presbyterian in Denton, then transferred by a Careflite helicopter to Cook Children’s Medical Center in critical condition.

Richard Roberts, neurosurgeon at Cook Children’s said Jesse’s head trauma was not consistent with falling down the stairs and said the head trauma was more recent than March 25.

Nurses at Bridgeport Hospital heard Worthy give several different explanations about how Jesse got his injuries, according to the affidavit.

Copeland was brought in for an interview and agreed to take a polygraph test. When he failed to show up for the appointment, he was arrested, Denton County authorities said.

Child Protective Services had several complaints of Worthy being physically abusive to her children in Bowie, and she was not supposed to have contact with Copeland because he was a convicted felon.

Under questioning by a Texas Ranger and investigators with the Denton County Sheriff's Department, Worthy said she saw Copeland shove Jesse in the back so violently on March 29 that the toddler fell face-first to the floor, causing bruising and swelling, according to the affidavit. But she never called authorities, the affidavit said.

CPS officials said Worthy’s 1-year-old and her newborn were in foster care on Sunday.

http://www.lewisvilleleader.com/articles/2010/04/09/lewisville_leader/news/8.txt

Emphasis added by H4K Editor