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SALT LAKE CITY — A grandmother who was watching her 3-year-old grandson for two days now faces a felony charge after the boy was admitted to a local hospital in serious condition.
Tammela Mounteer, 46, of Beryl, Iron County, was charged Nov. 22 with child abuse, a second-degree felony. During a court hearing on Tuesday, a judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jan. 7. Mounteer was being held on $50,000 bail.
Mounteer was babysitting her 3-year-old grandson and 4-year-old granddaughter in her fifth wheel trailer. During that time, the boy suffered cuts and bruises “all over his body,” including cuts to his genitals, according to a booking affidavit and search warrants,
The boy was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in serious condition.
“Medical personnel that treated (the boy) stated he has a significant amount of injuries-bruising and abrasions/scratches to his body. He suffered an internal injury to his liver and other internal organs as a result of blunt force trauma to the abdomen,” the affidavit states.
During an interview with police, “Tammela admitted being ‘responsible for his injuries,’ but denied knowing how he received them. She stated, ‘He would just walk in with new injuries,’” according to a warrant.
Mounteer also told police that the boy used toenail clippers to “mutilate” himself, a warrant states.
Another man who lives on the property, however, told investigators that he witnessed Mounteeer “strike (the boy) in the face with both the front of her hand and the back of her hand,” police wrote in the affidavit.
The man also told detectives there was methamphetamine and alcohol in the the trailer where the grandchildren were being watched, a warrant states, and Mounteer allegedly admitted to using meth.
Iron County sheriff’s detectives who investigated the case also reviewed text and video messages between Mounteer and her daughter. In some of the messages, Mounteer discussed “the stress she was under having (her grandson) there,” officers wrote.
“Come get (him) because I can’t handle him anymore,” she told her daughter in one message, according to a warrant.
On a video message using social media, the boy “was seen sitting inside a toilet with his pants on. (He) was sitting in his soiled clothing as a consequence of going to the bathroom in his pants,” a warrant states.
