A 19-year-old Pine Bluff man has been charged with the rape of a toddler.
Pine Bluff police responded to a home on South Belair Street Sunday morning after a report of a child that had stopped breathing. When officers arrived, the child had already been taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center by a private vehicle.
The 2-year-old was resuscitated and then tranferred by air ambulance to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. She is now in critical condition and her prognosis is grave.
The child's 17-year-old mother reportedly told police that her boyfriend, 19-year-old Marcha Smith had been babysitting the toddler. Smith told police the baby fell while running when he tried to give her a bath. Smith says that's when the child stopped breathing and he transported her to the hospital.
While being examined by doctors, it was found that the child had apparently sustained severe trauma to her head and body, along with signs that she had been raped.
Marcha Smith was arrested on probable cause for first-degree battery and rape charges. He is now being held in the Jefferson County Detention Center awaiting formal charges by the prosecuting attorney.
