"Newborn John" LESTER-CALLOWAY - 1 Month/ Accused: Brittany Lester - St Petersburg FL

Woman Charged With Child Abuse After Messaging Ex

Posted: 7:45 am EDT August 19, 2011

Updated: 7:49 am EDT August 19, 2011


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A Tampa Bay area woman was arrested after police say she sent pictures and text messages to her ex-boyfriend, claiming to abuse their baby.

St. Petersburg police arrested a 20-year-old Brittany Lester Wednesday night and charged her with aggravated child abuse. She was being held without bail.

Her ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old Donald Callaway, had called authorities to tell them Lester was abusing their 1-month-old child. In a series of text messages, police say Lester claimed she did
not want the baby described various ways she was going to harm him. The pictures included a shot of the infant with a plastic bag over his head.

When officers went to the woman's hotel, they found the baby uninjured.

The infant and Lester's 3-year-old daughter were placed in state custody.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/18/2365466/woman-charged-with-child-abuse.html

Woman arrested for text messages showing child abuse


Brittany Lester, 20, was arrested on an aggravated child abuse charge.
By Jonathan Petramala, Reporter
Last Updated: Thursday, August 18, 2011 Video Stories

ST. PETERSBURG --
St. Petersburg Police say a woman was using her cell phone to threaten her
ex-boyfriend with her newborn baby at the center of it all.

Police say 20-year-old Brittany Lester got into an argument with the father of
her 1-month-old babyr after she saw a text message from another woman.

When he left the hotel where they were staying, officers say she sent him
dozens of pictures and text messages depicting and describing the
torture of the infant.

"One pose actually had the child upside down in a trash can. There was another pose where the child was placed under a couple mattresses, others with plastic bags on its head," said Mike Puetz with SPPD.

Investigators say Lester began the texting after the father left her, the baby and another 3-year-old girl at the Bayway Inn Motel.

The father, Donald Callaway, told Lester he was going to call the police and show them the messages. According to messages released by police, Lester responded:

6:37 p.m. - Ion care! I aint want ya baby from start. Ill keep sending u more!"

A few minutes later Lester threatens to urinate in the baby's bottle and feed it to him.

6:49 p.m. - and he drinkin it lol wow!!!"

Several times in the texts, Lester tells her ex-boyfriend to call the police or something even worse could happen to the baby.

6:51 p.m. - Kall dha police...if you care so much bout him why would u want
the little to go thru all dhiss cus sooner or later he might be dead!"

Police say Lester admitted to sending the messages but said she didn't actually abuse the baby.

"Basically, what it appeared, she was trying to tell us she was going for the effect, the visual effect, as opposed to actually harming the child," Puetz said.

When police arrived after 9 p.m. Wednesday, both children appeared unharmed. The infant and the toddler are in the custody of Child Protection. Lester's mother declined to take custody of
the children, according to Puetz.

Lester was given $2,500 bond from a judge on a single count of aggravated child abuse.

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2011/august/297244/Woman-arrested-for-text-messages-showing-child-abuse

why is this listed under abused and neglected children resulting in death heading?

Looks like that mistake is mine. Tom will move it for us to "not resulting in death".