Oneida (WSYR-TV) -- The woman accused of forcing a child to eat feces from a diaper has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges.
Julie Patane, 28, is due back in court next month.
The child’s mother, 35-year-old Melissa Seifert, of Munnsville, is also charged with child endangerment. She too pleaded not guilty to the charges against her Friday.
The child has been removed by Madison County Protective Services.
Child removed from home after dirty-diaper incident
October 24, 2011
**Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions**
Oneida (WSYR-TV) – Two women have been charged after an alleged incident in which a child was forced to eat feces from his own diaper.
Oneida Police charged Julie Patane, 28, of Oneida, and Melissa Seifert, 35, of Munnsville, with child endangerment.
According to police, Patane forced Seifert's child to eat the feces from the soiled diaper.
Oneida Police Chief David Meeker said, "I think she just lost her cool or something trying to potty train the child and unfortunately didn't know how to handle it."
Meeker said that Seifert often left her child with Patane for extended periods of time, dating back to November 2010.
"You just can't understand how someone can do that. You know, unfortunately we deal with a lot of things that most people wouldn't realize," Chief Meeker said.
Police say Seifert failed to exercise reasonable diligence in preventing her child from becoming abused by turning the child over to Patane and failing to report bruising on the child.
Chief Meeker said the bruises were previously found on the baby and never reported. Seifert said the bruises were accidental.
“It was the number of bruises and where they were located that made it kind of odd,” Chief Meeker said.
We're also told another child was in the home at the time and witnessed the incident.
The two women are scheduled to appear in Oneida City Court on October 28.
The child was removed by Madison County Protective Services. An investigation is ongoing.
Neither woman was available for comment Monday.
