Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Lexes Marie Baker, 19, was arrested yesterday morning after her roommate reported hearing Baker’s one-year-old screaming in a bathroom connected to Baker’s bedroom; deputies were later told that Baker had left the apartment the previous afternoon.

At about 10:20 a.m. on June 6, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an undisclosed location after Baker’s roommate called 911 to report that a one-year-old child was locked in a bathroom.

Deputies reported that they found the bathroom door locked and the lights turned off, with a camera pointing downward from a soap holder on the counter; the baby was reportedly covered with urine, feces, and vomit and was in distress. The baby was transported by ambulance to Shands Pediatric Emergency Room for treatment.

When Baker returned and saw deputies at her apartment, she allegedly fled on foot, ignoring orders to stop; she was apprehended after a taser deployment.

Post Miranda, Baker reportedly said she had only left the baby alone for 20 minutes, but she later changed her statement and said it had been 45 minutes. She said she was monitoring the baby by viewing the camera on her cell phone; when a deputy asked whether she had seen deputies enter the bathroom, she initially said she did but then said she did not because the camera was “glitching.” She reportedly said she fled when she saw the deputies because she knew she would go to jail for leaving her child in the bathroom.

A witness reportedly said Baker had left the apartment around 5 p.m. on June 5 and did not return during the night; the roommate said they were unaware that the baby was in the bathroom until just before they called 911. The bathroom is a private bathroom inside Baker’s private bedroom in the apartment.

Baker has been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and resisting an officer without violence. She has no local criminal history, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $52,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.