Woman Arrested After Being Recorded Abusing Baby (Photo)

A Pennsylvania woman has been arrested after police received an anonymous video in which she is seen hitting a baby 37 times.

According to WHP, police began investigating Jessica Lynn Samick on March 15 after the child’s mother found bruises and cigarette burns on her baby’s body and reported the injuries to police after the baby was in Samick’s care for several days.

The mother told investigators that Samick had watched her child before and that she has been involved in the child’s life since birth, which is why she allowed Samick to take her son on a trip for several days.

The mother says she became concerned after Samick shared a photo of the child on Facebook that “seemed a little off.” Court documents say that in the photo, there was a sticker of a heart over the baby’s ear “as if to hide something.”

When the child was back in the mother’s care, she noticed that her son had bruises and what appeared to be cigarette burns under his arms. She quickly took the child to the hospital. 

Officers were called to the hospital and documented that they also noticed injuries on the child’s body.

Police received a video from an anonymous source on April 9, in which Samick can be seen beating the child. Two days later, officers interviewed the woman who recorded the video. She revealed that Samick would lock the baby in a closet as a “time out,” squeeze him so hard that she would leave nail marks on his back, bite him, hit him, and scratch his nose with her fingernails.

According to USA Today, Samick can be heard in the footage making inappropriate comments about the baby, calling him a “retard” and saying “I want to kill him” and “I’ve never hated a kid this much.”

Samick was also heard to say “I’m about to beat the living [expletive] [expletive] out of you” before hitting the child in the face, making him bleed from his mouth.

Samick surrendered to police on May 22, after a warrant was filed for her arrest on May 19. She is currently being held in the Franklin County Jail on $100,000 bail, according to USA Today.

Readers shared their thoughts on the disturbing story on the Shared Facebook page.

“I hope this horrible person gets what she deserves, but it always amazes me when someone will sit and video something like hitting a child 37 times and not be charged with at least child endangerment,” one user commented. “That person knew the child was not safe and did nothing.”

“I like to know who recorded the video they should be charged as well for not stopping it. Especially if it was long enough for to hit him 30 something times! You should be ashamed of yourself,” another user wrote.

Sources: WHP, USA Today, Shared/Facebook / Photo credit: Oregon Department of Transportation/Wikimedia Commons, Franklin County Jail via WHP