A Hall County woman is behind bars for subjecting her 5-year-old son to a series of treatments and medications he didn’t need, police said.
Teresa Lynne Roth, 34, was arrested Thursday following an investigation that began last fall when Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta employees raised concerns to the Division of Family and Children Services, Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Scott Ware said.
“Between January 2016 and October 2018 Mrs. Roth did cause her son unnecessary physical and mental pain by subjecting him to undergo unnecessary medical treatments and medications, jeopardizing his well-being,” Ware said.
While in his parents’ care, the child was on a number of different medications, in a wheelchair and had a feeding tube and oxygen tank, Ware said.
DFCS took custody of the child in October and made a referral to the sheriff’s office, which launched an investigation, Ware said.
The boy is now doing well and no longer on medical interventions, police said.
Investigators said they discussed whether the woman may have suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder causing a caregiver to seek attention by embellishing or making up the illnesses of the person they look after.
Ware said Roth and her husband also may have fabricated the child’s conditions just to collect his monthly disability check.
“They were receiving disability, but now that the child’s not in their custody, they’re not,” he said.
Charges against the boy’s father are still possible, according to police.
Roth is charged with first-degree child cruelty. She remains in the Hall County jail on a $16,700 bond, records show.
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