MA Mother Charged With Leaving Gravely Ill Son To Die

CHELSEA, MA — A Chelsea woman is facing charges including involuntary manslaughter after being accused of leaving her 3-year-old son to die when he was gravely ill, according to multiple reports.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced earlier this week that Jennifer Prudencio, 25, was being arraigned in connection with the death of her son, Yael Guardado-Prudencio.

Officials said they were called to Prudencio's Spencer Avenue apartment Sunday morning when they found the little boy unresponsive.

During Prudencio's arraignment, prosecutors argued that Prudencio was aware her son was sick in the week leading up to his death, adding that he had a seizure disorder and hemophilia and had recently been vomiting blood, according to Boston.com and Boston25.

Despite this, Prudencio is accused of spending several hours at a bar in Revere Saturday night, leaving the toddler with his 7 and 8-year-old siblings who had texted their mother a video of their little brother, telling Prudencio that they were worried about him, Boston.com reported.

Prudencio allegedly told her son that she would be home soon but didn't return until 10 a.m., at which time the toddler was already dead, according to the outlet.

In addition to involuntary manslaughter, Prudencio is facing charges of reckless endangerment, officials said.

"The death of someone so young is a tragedy beyond words," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement earlier this week. "My heart goes out to all who knew and loved this young boy, and to the police and emergency services personnel who responded to the scene that sad morning.

Prudecio is being held on $100,000 bail and has been ordered by a judge to have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, to surrender her passport and not leave the state, and to be tracked by a GPS when she is released, Boston.com and Boston25 reported.

Her probable cause hearing is scheduled for May 2.