CLEARFIELD – Both parents of a six-month-old child are being charged in an alleged shaken baby case.
Andre Maurice Sheffey, 33, and Savannah Marie Grove, 34, both of Clearfield, are being charged in the case by Sgt. Julie Curry of the Lawrence Township police.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the investigation began into a report of suspected child abuse Oct. 23 after Sheffey took the baby to Clearfield Penn Highlands.
Sheffey drove the baby to the hospital because he was blue, limp and cold to the touch. He told medical staff the baby had rolled off the couch, hitting the floor and now wasn’t acting himself.
Emergency Room Doctor, David Jaslow, said when Sheffey brought the baby, he was “critically ill” and taking seizures. His arms and hands were also reportedly bent inward towards his torso.
Sheffey claimed the baby’s injuries just occurred 15 minutes earlier, and appeared to have little concern over his condition. Jaslow classified the case as a “near fatality” and filed a report with Children, Youth & Family Services.
The report also noted the baby required emergency resuscitation – both intubation and fluid – and that a computerized tomography (CT) scan showed a subdural hematoma, or brain bleed. He was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital, Pittsburgh.
There, it was found the baby had three, separate leg fractures in various stages of healing; a brain bleed; retinal hemorrhages in the right eye and other injuries.
Dr. Jennifer Clarke of the hospital’s Child Advocacy Center and who specializes in child abuse cases said such injuries were consistent with “shaken baby syndrome.”
In an interview with a hospital caseworker Oct. 24, Grove said the baby was fussy and had vomited the night before the incident. The morning of Oct. 23, she went to work and left him with his father.
Sheffey said after he changed the baby’s diaper, he left him on their sectional sofa. Before he got to put the diaper in the trash, he said he heard a “thump.”
Sheffey said he found the baby lying on the floor and gasping for air. He wasn’t crying. Sheffey said he called Grove and she called a neighbor to have them bring over car keys so he could take the baby to the ER.
On Oct. 25, UPMC Children’s Hospital was contacted about the baby’s condition. He reportedly had to be resuscitated again the day before, and was intubated with a neck brace. The baby was classified as in critical but stable condition.
Authorities conducted forensic interviews with the baby’s three other siblings.
When asked how her brother got hurt, one threw a baby doll on the floor. When asked what happens if she’s in trouble, she squeezed the doll’s neck and then her own, saying her “dad does that.”
On Oct. 26, Grove and Sheffey reported no history of bruising, fractures, head trauma, seizures, etc. However, Clarke found the baby’s short fall history didn’t “reasonably explain” his injuries, and there was “high concern” for physical abuse including head trauma.
A neighbor told police that a day or two prior to the incident, Grove came outside and told her that the baby wouldn’t stop crying. She also said Sheffey throws fits where he’s fine one minute and “snaps” the next.
She said Grove stated multiple times that she didn’t think Sheffey would ever hurt the children, but it had always been a serious concern for her because of his anger issues.
She said Grove also admitted she had concerns about working full-time, as she didn’t want Sheffey to spend that much time alone with the children. And the day of the incident, she said Sheffey appeared more nervous, than panicked.
The neighbor recalled the baby taking crying fits and having a bruise on his leg when he was approximately four months old. She said the bruise was on his knee or outer thigh, and the baby wasn’t mobile yet.
A neighbor’s child was also interviewed by authorities Oct. 27. He said one day, one of Grove’s children told him Sheffey slaps and punches the baby, and tosses him on the ground.
On Oct. 27, police served search warrants on Grove and Sheffey, seizing their cellular phones. Both were taken to the DuBois City Police Department for a digital extraction to be completed by Cpl. Matthew Robertson.
The search uncovered a conversation between Grove and Sheffey Oct. 25 on Facebook Messenger. Grove admitted she was scared to which Sheffey apologized, stating he felt like a “complete failure.”
On Nov. 25, police recovered three photographs of the baby from deleted files on Grove’s phone, which clearly showed a handprint on the side of his face.
Text-message data was recovered from Sheffey’s mother in which Grove stated at 2:06 a.m. Oct. 23 she planned to take the baby to the hospital. The baby wasn’t taken until 1:32 p.m.
Grove also admitted to having observed bruises on the baby’s arm and leg in the past. Photographs recovered from messages sent to Sheffey’s mother Aug. 24 show a bruise on the baby’s face and another on his upper arm.
An additional photograph reportedly sent that same date shows a large bruise on the baby’s left upper thigh near his buttocks. This bruise is clearly a handprint, police said.
On Sept. 28, Grove sent two photographs of injuries to the baby with the first apparently being of his left shoulder area and the other being a bruise under his left eye.
She was reportedly told the only explanation was child abuse, and she was aware someone hurt the baby. She denied having done anything to the child, and believed that Sheffey caused the injuries.
On Nov. 6, one of Grove’s children was interviewed again at the Child Advocacy Center. She said she sent a text to her mother on Oct. 20 after she discovered the baby’s mouth was bleeding.
She said blood was on his blanket, pillow and bottle, and that she thought Sheffey shoved the bottle into the baby’s mouth, causing the injury. She said when the baby is with Sheffey, he cries a lot so she felt he was to blame.
She said she saw bruises on the baby’s legs and Sheffey yanking on them too hard. She said she witnessed this about four different times, and police found this was consistent with injuries discovered at UPMC Children’s Hospital.
She said after the baby has been alone with Sheffey, she notices new bruises, and that this has been going on for a few months. She said Sheffey also put holes in the wall of their residence, and broke the front door.
On Nov. 23, police conducted a manual search of Grove’s phone, finding Internet searches like why won’t my six-month-old baby sleep through the night; why won’t my baby stop crying and what happens with child endangerment in Pennsylvania.
Other searches included what can cause fractures in babies, unexplained fractures in infants and infant bone fractures; in the phone’s deleted files, police found seven more photographs of the baby.
Three photographs showed a red mark on the baby’s face and the other four showed the injury to his mouth. Photographs of the mouth injury are believed to be from Oct. 20.
Grove was aware of injuries specifically on Aug. 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 20 and Oct. 22 that Sheffey had inflicted upon their baby, police said, and she failed to take him for any medical treatment.
She repeatedly left him in the care of Sheffey, which reportedly caused him to suffer “life-threatening” injuries Oct. 23. She also reportedly attempted to keep a minor child from disclosing information about ongoing abuse.
Sheffey was originally charged with five counts each of felony aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children as well as five misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and related offenses.
Grove was charged with five felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, felony intimidate witness/victim and 10 misdemeanor counts of tampering with evidence.
She was also charged with intimidates or intends to intimidate person to give false/misleading information, two counts of obstruction and four counts of recklessly endangering another person, all misdemeanors.
Sheffey and Grove waived their rights to preliminary hearings Monday during centralized court. Sheffey had the misdemeanor tampering with evidence offense withdrawn.
Both Sheffey and Grove remain incarcerated in Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
