Central Kentucky couple charged with abuse of newborn baby, jailed on $1 million bond
A Frankfort man has been arrested and held on a $1 million bond for allegedly physically abusing a newborn baby.
Frankfort police arrested Arien Ernest Fredrickson, 29, on Monday and charged him with first-degree assault and first-degree criminal abuse on a child.
Fredrickson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Franklin District Court.
In their report, police said they were called to an apartment on Louisville Road late Sunday to respond to a four-week-old girl in medical distress, with blue lips, blue skin around her eyes and a possibly obstructed airway.
The baby girl, who was unresponsive and had serious injuries around her head and neck, was rushed to Frankfort Regional Medical Center and then to Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington, police said. WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner, reported that the injuries were potentially life-threatening.
Fredrickson told police that he “intentionally physically assaulted the baby in (an) attempt to quiet her crying,” police wrote in their report.
Police also charged Helena T. Herbert, 19, with failure to report child abuse and first-degree criminal abuse.
Herbert told a police detective she had been aware her boyfriend was abusing the girl since the beginning of November, including attempts to smother the baby with his hand, but she did not take the girl away from him or call authorities for help, police wrote in their report.
Like Fredrickson, Herbert remained in the Franklin County Regional Jail on Wednesday in lieu of a $1 million bond, according to jail records. She is also scheduled to appear in Franklin District Court Tuesday.
