Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tarkesha Aisha Taylor, 27, was arrested last night and charged with child abuse after allegedly holding a pillow over her baby’s face while staying at St. Francis House.

Another resident of St. Francis House told a Gainesville Police Department officer that she had felt bad for Taylor and her baby because they were sleeping in the lobby, so she let them stay in her room. She said the baby, who is almost two years old, cried uncontrollably for hours, and Taylor started shaking the baby; she said Taylor started yelling at the baby to “Shut up” and then took a pillow from the bed and pressed it over the baby’s nose and mouth. The witness said she stopped Taylor from smothering the baby and took the baby from her.

The witness said that when she woke up the next morning, Taylor was gone, but the baby was alone and crying in the bed, and the baby and bed were saturated with urine.

Two other witnesses reportedly told the officer that Taylor goes to an area on SW 4th Place that is known for narcotics activity to “smoke molly” with the baby in a stroller; they said the baby is always crying and that Taylor neglects the baby.

Taylor was reportedly asked to leave St. Francis House because she violated the 9 p.m. curfew multiple times.

The officer reported previously seeing Taylor in the 400 block of S. Main Street, talking with known drug dealers while pushing the baby in a stroller.

A sworn complaint was filed against Taylor in September 2023 for child neglect. In 2022, she was reportedly investigated for abusing “molly” in front of her other child.

Post Miranda, Taylor reportedly admitted smoking “mop or molly” on SW 4th Place and that the baby had been with her because she didn’t have anyone to watch the baby. When she was asked whether she had tried to smother the baby, she initially said she had put a pillow over the baby’s face in the St. Francis lobby during the daytime while “playing”; she later reportedly admitted she had put a pillow over the baby’s face at night, but she said she would never hurt the baby.

Taylor’s only other criminal history in Alachua County is a sworn complaint for domestic battery from 2020; the charges were later dropped.

Taylor has been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and child abuse without great bodily harm; Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $80,000.

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.