FL Woman Arrested Nearly Year After A 9-Month-Old Died At Unlicensed Daycare

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A woman was arrested nearly a year after a 9-month-old died at an unlicensed St. Petersburg daycare, according to multiple reports.

Desiree Rentz, 31, was running a daycare with more than a dozen children from her one-bedroom apartment on Lynn Lake Drive S. in the Reserve at Lake Pointe Apartments, when officers responded to reports of an unresponsive infant, Fox 13 said.

They found the 9-month-old Timothy David Smith in cardiac arrest, reports said. Officers responded to the apartment on July 25 around 1:45 p.m. when the baby wouldn’t wake up from a nap.

An autopsy showed that he was given cough syrup that wasn’t recommended for children under 4 years old without the consent of his parents, WFLA said.

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“A lot of parents are relying on daycare providers because school is out, so we just we don’t want to see these cases, complex and horrific cases,” a major with the St. Pete Police Department said. “We want our kids to be well taken care of, and the parents can really ensure that by making sure that the provider they’re using is licensed.”

Rentz was being held Wednesday in the Pinellas County Jail with bail set at $175,000. She was appointed a public defender who submitted a not guilty plea on her behalf, the Tampa Bay Times said.

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