HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A 41-year-old mother stands accused of child abuse in Miami-Dade County after a police officer met a homeless teenage girl who was injured a few days after an attack.
According to Miami-Dade inmate records, correctional officers were holding Elizabeth Polo on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near Doral.
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According to a Homestead Police Department arrest report, a police officer met Polo’s daughter on Wednesday at a Chevron, at Southwest 187 Avenue and Mowry Drive.
The police officer reported the homeless teen had suffered “several scratches around her neck, chest area, and her right arm” and “minor redness on the right side of the face.”
According to police, the teenage girl reported Polo had attacked her on Sunday — “placing both hands around her neck and shaking her and squeezing her neck vigorously.”
The teen also reported Polo had ordered her to leave her Mowry Villas home, so she had slept over at a friend’s house and was trying to find an aunt for help, according to police.
Homestead police officers reported arresting Polo at about 3:40 p.m., Wednesday, at the HPD station, and correctional officers reported booking her at about 10:20 p.m., Wednesday.
Court records show Polo appeared before a Miami-Dade bond court judge on Thursday who ordered her to stay away from her teenage daughter and set her bond at $5,000.
Prosecutors filed a case for felony charges of domestic battery by strangulation and child abuse without great bodily harm. Circuit Judge Lody Jean was set to preside over the case.
The national hotline aims to provide help to domestic violence victims 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-799-7233. The Florida Department of Children and Families abuse hotline is 1-800-962-2873.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega contributed to this report.