Florida Woman Charged w/ 9-Month-Old Baby’s De@th After Giving Him Cough Syrup Inside Unlicensed Apartment Daycare

Florida Woman Charged w/ 9-Month-Old Baby’s De@th After Giving Him Cough Syrup Inside Unlicensed Apartment Daycare

A Florida woman has been charged in the 2024 d*ath of a 9-month-old baby she was allegedly watching without proper credentials.

Police say 31-year-old Desiree Rentz posed as a licensed daycare operator while caring for more than a dozen children inside her one-bedroom apartment at the Reserve at Lake Pointe complex in St. Petersburg.

Officers responded after baby Timothy David Smith was found unresponsive during a nap. “She misrepresented herself to parents,” police said, revealing that the licenses displayed on her wall were only for temporary foster care of one child—not for operating a daycare.

An autopsy confirmed the infant had been given cough syrup not recommended for children under 4 years old. Investigators say Rentz administered it without the parents’ knowledge or consent.

She has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and misrepresentation of a childcare license resulting in d*ath.

 

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VIA: 10 Tampa Bay