Rhode Island Woman Admits to Assaulting Toddler in Seekonk

SEEKONK — A Rhode Island woman will serve prison time after pleading guilty to assaulting and seriously injuring her one-year-old toddler while staying at a Seekonk motel in 2018.

The Bristol County District Attorney's office said 37-year-old Jobe Robinson, formerly of Pawtucket and Providence, admitted to assault and battery and reckless endangerment charges on March 3.

Robinson was sentenced to two to four years in state prison followed by five years on probation, and ordered to have no contact with her children unless allowed by authorities.

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The assaults that took place in Seekonk in December 2018 were not discovered until Warwick, R.I. police responded to a motel in Warwick on Jan. 8, 2019.

They were called to help remove overstaying guests, but arrived to find three children aged 16 months to 14 years alone in the motel room, according to the D.A.'s office.

Police later learned that the children's parents — including Robinson — had gotten into a physical fight at a methadone clinic resulting in a car crash on their way back to the motel.

Rhode Island officials took custody of the kids, and the youngest boy was taken to Rhode Island hospital with injuries including three broken bones, a deformity on his thigh, and injuries to his skin and the underlying leg tissue, the D.A.'s office said.

His weight was also extremely low for his age of 16 months.

Doctors found that the injuries were two to three weeks old.

During an investigation, the two older children told interviewers that the little boy was injured during the family's 2018 stay at the Ramada Inn in Seekonk.

The eldest child said Robinson used to bend the toddler's legs behind his head and twist them.

She would also hold the boy up and let him fall, as well as withhold food from him, the D.A.'s office said.

Seekonk paramedics confirmed that they had been called to the motel when Robinson fell in the shower in December 2018, and they noticed fresh bandages on the child's legs while they were in the motel room.

Robinson pleaded guilty to indictments charging her with assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury, permitting injury to a child, reckless endangerment of a child, and assault and battery.

After her prison term she will not be allowed to contact her children unless allowed to do so by either Rhode Island or Massachusetts officials.

"It is extremely sad and disturbing that a mother would do this to a defenseless toddler who relied on the defendant for care and protection," said Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn.

"My heart goes out to the child," he added.