CHELSEA — A 3-year-old boy who had a seizure disorder and had been vomiting blood in recent days was left overnight in the care of two older siblings — ages 7 and 8 — while their mother went out for a night of drinking, a prosecutor alleged in court Wednesday.
When Jennifer Prudencio, 25, returned to her apartment in Chelsea around 10 a.m. on April 7, she found her youngest child unresponsive and called 911. The boy, Yael Guardado-Prudencio, had died, said Assistant District Attorney Audrey Mark.
At Prudencio’s arraignment in Chelsea District Court, Mark said the boy had recently “fallen while having a seizure and had a bleeding wound to his face, which was not properly healing.” He had also been sick the previous week and “appeared pale” the night of April 6, when Prudencio went to a bar in Revere and “drank alcohol for a number of hours,” Mark said.
She then slept over at a boyfriend’s home in Somerville, leaving her three children alone for the night.
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“The child suffered from a seizure disorder and had hemophilia and had been vomiting blood in the days before he died,” Mark said. “Despite being aware that something was seriously medically wrong with her child, the defendant left the child in the care of her two other children.”
The cause of the boy’s death was not disclosed.
At some point during the night, her 8-year-old son sent a video and text messages to his mother, expressing concern for the health of his younger sibling, Mark said. Prudencio promised she would come home soon but did not return until the next morning, Mark said.
Prudencio told investigators that she was “aware of the serious nature of the child’s medical condition” when she left him in the care of her two young children without adult supervision, Mark said. She had recently taken him twice to seek medical care.
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Mark said Prudencio confirmed that she received the text from her 8-year-old and still chose not to come home.
Prudencio pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment of a child and involuntary manslaughter and was ordered held on $100,000 bail by Judge David E. Frank. She was ordered not to have contact with her children, or any child under the age of 16, to surrender her passport, and wear a GPS monitoring bracelet if she is released, records show.
Peter J. Lemire, a defense attorney who represented Prudencio at the arraignment said she is “severely distraught.” He stressed to the judge that Prudencio cooperated with the investigation.
Lemire said she is a long-term resident of the area and has strong family support, noting that many of her relatives, including her mother and her brother, were in the courtroom. Lemire said Prudencio has no prior involvement with the Department of Children and Families, the state’s child protection agency.
Prudencio is unemployed but was just accepted into the Lare Institute, a work-development program in Chelsea, her lawyer said.
Lemire asked the judge to reduce the bail to $7,500 because “she simply cannot meet” the $100,000 amount, even with help from her family.
Prudencio is due back in court May 2.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.