Former Foster Parent Indicted on Child Abuse Charges

A former St. Charles County foster parent was indicted by a St. Charles County grand jury Friday on two counts of child abuse.

Terri Cronin, 48, was indicted on two counts of child abuse. She alternatively has been indicted on two counts of second-degree assault. Cronin's address now is listed as being in Oklahoma.

St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department detectives said Cronin fractured a six-week-old baby’s arm while caring for the child as a foster parent in the 3600 block of Meadowsglen Court in the Harvester area. Cronin told police she slipped while carrying the baby down some stairs.

A St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department statement indicated the injury is incompatible with falling down steps, but is “highly specific for inflicted injuries” to an infant.

Then, on May 27, 2009, Cronin told detectives she slipped down the same steps again, dropping the same baby, who was then 11 weeks old.

The child suffered a depressed skull fracture, severe brain swelling, multiple subdural hemorrhages, a brain contusion, seizures as a result of the brain injury, retinal hemorrhages, a collarbone fracture.

A complete skeletal X-ray revealed the infant also had a broken tibia above his ankle and broken bones in his left wrist.

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