Raleigh parents charged with abuse after doctors discover infant's broken arms, ribs

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Raleigh mother and father are behind bars, accused of abusing their infant son so badly that prosecutors say he had 15 fractures.

When Sandra Blevins, 30, and Dustin Mullinax, 26, brought their 2-month-old son to the hospital in April, he was bleeding from the mouth.

Doctors soon discovered that his tongue was cut nearly half-way through.

"Pediatric experts explained to us that the force that's required to result in that injury would be significant and would have to be applied by a sharp object," prosecutor Katy Pomeroy told a judge at the Wake County Justice Center Wednesday afternoon.

It was during a hearing for Blevins and Mullinax who were arrested yesterday and charged with intentional child abuse causing serious injury.

Pomeroy went on to say that when doctors started looking closer at the child they found numerous injuries in various stages of healing including facial bruising, broken ribs, and two broken arms.

"Your honor, there were a total of 15 fractures to an eight-week-old baby. In addition to that, a head scan revealed healing intracranial hemorrhaging," she said.

A couple who live upstairs from the mother and father in a West Raleigh apartment complex on Oak Run Drive didn't want to be identified but said they could sometimes hear the two arguing

They were shocked by the allegations of what took place in the apartment below them.

"That's horrible," the woman said. " If you can't take care of a child, don't have a child. If you can't afford it, don't have it. If you're going to argue with your partner all the time and then take it out on your child, don't have a child. You don't deserve it. And people like that deserve to be locked up."

When the prosecutor suggested upping the bonds for the mother and father from $50,000 to $500,000, Blevins cried foul.

"I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing with CPS (child protective services) and everything. I have a job and if I lose my job because I'm in here," the mother said before she was interrupted by the public defender to keep her from incriminating herself.

But in the end, the judge disregarded her concerns and the concerns of the child's father about losing their job.

He granted the request for a half-million dollar bond for each.

Police said the little boy is recovering and is now living with other family members.