Woman Pleads No Contest to Severely Harming Baby

A Waukesha woman, who has been behind bars since she injured an infant so badly by Flight For Life, pleaded no contest to the crime Wednesday afternoon.

Maria E. Rangel, 28, faces up to 40 years in prison and $100,000 in fines when she is sentenced for child abuse on Jan. 4 in

According to the criminal complaint:

Police were called to a house in the 300 block of Darlene Drive on June 2 after it was reported there was an infant with no pulse and not breathing. The child was transported to the hospital where medical personnel discovered numerous injuries within the infant, including two skull fractures, swelling on the brain and a mid-right side tibia fracture.

Rangel initially denied causing injury to the infant, saying she discovered the baby wasn’t breathing when she went to feed the boy. Rangel told police she called the baby’s mother who came over and began to shake him to wake him up.

Rangel later told investigators the infant’s head accidentally hit the door of the refrigerator while she was holding him and she then lost grip of the infant who fell on the floor.

She eventually admitted to squeezing and shaking the baby because the infant continued to cry.