A Greencastle, Pennsylvania, woman, who received national attention after allegations against her were heard on the Steve Wilkos show last month, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly beating a toddler she was babysitting.
Public Opinion reports that Jessica Lynn Samick, 21, was reportedly caught on video by her friend, Taylor Guifoyle, smacking a 1-year-old toddler last year at least 38 times while the child was under her care from March 9 through March 15. The child’s mother indicated that Samick had been in the toddler’s life since birth and had never been caught harming the child before.
Guifoyle told police she was present after the baby had already been in Samick’s care for a few days. She’s unsure what happened during the days she wasn’t around, but Guifoyle said that Samick was like “two different people” while watching the little boy. Guifoyle said she would treat him nicely at first, but within a moment’s notice “it was like something snapped in her.”
While describing to police what she witnessed, Guifoyle said during one incident, Samick acted like was going to wipe the baby’s nose, but ended up intentionally scratching him in the face with her fingernails. She also allegedly locked the baby in a closet while he screamed to get out. Other instances of abuse that Guifoyle said she witnessed include Samick declaring she wanted to kill the boy, calling him a “retard,” pulling his hair, and squeezing him until he cried.
The video, now deleted, reportedly showed Samick put the baby across her legs while screaming at him and smacking him in the face and all over his body. A total of 38 smacks were heard in the video, according to Wilkos.
Guifoyle appeared on the Steve Wilkos show with the child’s family, where she came under harsh scrutiny from Steve for allowing the abuse to happen and not phoning the police immediately. Although Guifoyle passed a lie detector while on the show, Steve told her she was just as guilty as Samick. Guifoyle said she made the video so that the baby’s mother could “go about it how she wanted to.”
Samick is held at Franklin County Jail on $100,000 bail. She’s charged with with felony endangering the welfare of a child and misdemeanor simple assault.
[Feature Photo: Franklin County Jail]
