A local mother and her boyfriend are facing charges after police say they abused two young children until they were hospitalized.
The criminal complaint said two young children, ages 2 and 3, were at UPMC Children’s Hospital on Nov. 5. They were introduced by their mother, Haley Province.
The complaint said the 2-year-old had multiple injuries to his leg, as well as broken arms, two broken hands, a broken shoulder and broken ribs. He also had multiple cuts and bruises with well-defined edges, cell death in his brain and tested positive for cocaine.
The three-year-old suffered broken collarbones, ribs and injuries to his neck.
The doctors determined the various injuries in healing stages from a week to three months, the complaint said. Doctors have also said that child abuse is characteristic and cannot be caused by accident.
Province told detectives she and her boyfriend, Bobby Bender, recently moved into an apartment in Rankin. She said last week, she went to the store and left her children in Bender’s care. When he got home, he saw a 2-year-old child who couldn’t get up. The next day, he would not stand, he would not put weight on his right leg and cried when Province would try to get him to stand.
The complaint states that Province denied seeing Bender beat his children, but said he saw bruises on them when he left the children alone with him.
The district also said he used cocaine but had been clean for one or two months, the complaint said. Suspected cocaine residue was found in the home during a search warrant and evidence showed that Bender and Province were selling the drug.
Bender told police that he watches the children every Friday for a few hours while Province goes to the doctor. He also said that he did cocaine but had been clean for two weeks and was not around children.
Province and Bender are each charged with six counts of aggravated assault, two counts of child endangerment and one count of conspiracy.
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