WEST JORDAN, Utah — A West Jordan woman faces multiple charges after police say she burned her 7-year-old child, forced him to vomit, stabbed him and dragged him down a street by clothing wrapped around his neck.
Whitney Romero, 28, was charged with one count of child abuse, a second-degree felony, one count of assault against a peace officer or military service member, one count of fail to stop at the command of a law officer and one count of interfering with an arresting officer, all class-A misdemeanors.
According to a probable cause statement released in Third District Court, on Nov. 10, officers received multiple calls stating that a woman, who was later identified as Romero, was dragging a small child along the street by a shirt, which was wrapped around his neck.
Police arrived at the scene of the incident and arrested Romero, who was combative and spit on one of the arresting officers, the statement said.
The child who was allegedly being dragged by Romero was identified by investigators as a seven-year-old boy. Police said that the child was interviewed and disclosed to investigators that Romero “was acting scary” toward him the evening of the incident.
The boy disclosed that Romero grabbed him by the back of the neck, then took a piece of her hair, lit it, and placed the har on the child’s chest, the statement said. Romero then allegedly took the boy out of their apartment, and repeatedly ordered him to throw up. When he didn’t, Romero allegedly put her fingers down the child’s throat and forced him to vomit.
The victim also told police that Romero stabbed him with a pen multiple times, causing him to bleed.
Police said they found injuries on the victim that were consistent with what he told investigators.
Romero was booked into jail for the above charges.
