Man faces charges after girl suffers head trauma
ORLANDO, Fla. —
An Orange County man faces aggravated child abuse charges after a girl in his care was rushed into surgery with what doctors and detectives are calling a case of shaken baby syndrome.

Michael DeLeon, 23, is already on probation in a child abuse case, but he now faces new charges. DeLeon claimed a child at his West Colonial Drive home fell from a bunk bed last week, but investigators believe something more sinister is to blame for the child’s severe head trauma.
As doctors rushed the victim into surgery at Arnold Palmer Hospital on Aug. 24, a Department of Children and Families case worker reported the child’s injuries to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy spoke with witnesses from the home who described a frightful scene.
According to the deputy’s initial incident report, the girl’s mother said she heard a “strange noise” while her daughter played alone in her bedroom. She said she then found her lying on the floor, vomiting. The girl’s mother said she fell from a bunk bed ladder.
In a later interview with detectives, the woman admitted that the child cried out for her on the day of the incident and that when she entered the bedroom, 250-pound DeLeon was holding the injured child in his arms.
DeLeon denied being in the child’s room when she was injured and reiterated that the child fell from a bunk bed ladder. On Wednesday, when deputies told him that the girl’s severe injuries were not consistent with a fall, according to doctors, he asked to leave, the report said.
Deputies said they then placed DeLeon under arrest, but he collapsed as he was read his Miranda rights. According to the report, a doctor found that DeLeon suffered an anxiety reaction.
According to the report, a surgeon had to remove a portion of the child’s skull to relieve pressure on her swelling brain.
The deputy noted that DeLeon is currently serving five years of probation in another aggravated child abuse case. The child in that case is the same little girl DeLeon is accused of hurting now.

DeLeon was booked into the Orange County Jail on Thursday. The deputy requested that DeLeon receive no bond.