Fair / 55° F
Mom charged with shaking baby/giving Xanax gets 6 months
Published 2:01pm Thursday, February 14, 2013A Green Creek mom who was charged in 2011 for shaking her then 2-month old baby and giving it Xanax, pled guilty in Polk County Superior Court held the week of Jan. 28.
Keisha Mae Harris, who was 23 at the time of her arrest, was originally charged in July 2011 by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office with child abuse and sell or deliver a controlled substance to a minor.
She was convicted of felony sell or deliver a controlled substance to a minor under the age of 13 and felony child abuse and given a sentence of 25-39 months in prison, which was suspended for 36 months under the condition she immediately be incarcerated for six months, comply with probation and department of social service parenting classes and anger management and to pay court costs, according to Polk County Clerk of Superior Court records.
The female baby survived its injuries and as of 2011 was in foster care.
The incident occurred on June 21, 2011 with sheriff’s officers saying at the time Harris took the baby to a Rutherford County doctor after the baby was lethargic and difficult to wake up. The doctor’s office sent the baby to Rutherford Hospital and due to the baby’s injuries, officers said, the baby was sent to Mission Hospital in Asheville.
The baby suffered bleeding on both sides of the brain and a skull fracture, according to sheriff’s office reports.
The baby also tested positive for Xanax, according to reports.
The hospital contacted the Polk County Department of Social Services (DSS) and DSS alerted the sheriff’s office of the case.
Please use the term Mother. “Mom” should be reserved for someone who cares. Just as a house is not necessarily a home, a mother is not necessarily a Mom.