WILDWOOD, Fla. – A family care manager at a Florida Department of Children and Families partner agency in Wildwood was arrested last month, accused of child abuse as police say he was caught on camera hurting an 11-year-old girl.
Cordell Baugh-Samuels, 41, was arrested Monday, April 29, some five days after the alleged incident at Kids Central, Inc. along Industrial Drive, police said. He faces a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm and as of Tuesday had posted $2,000 bond to be released, records show.
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According to an arrest report, one of Baugh-Samuels’ co-workers on April 24 had asked him to watch a child for her as she used the restroom, returning to see that the girl — a foster child on night-to-night placement — was crying on a couch. The woman told Baugh-Samuels to go back to his office, later recalling that she at one point heard Baugh-Samuels say something to the child along the lines of, “You’re not going to pull that (expletive),” the report states.
Another witness reported that the child told her she was crying because she wanted to go find another worker, but Baugh-Samuels wouldn’t let her, going on to say he grabbed her and threw her onto a couch, hurting her. The girl herself told police that she had asked Baugh-Samuels to speak with her assigned case manager, only to be denied, grabbed and thrown in accordance with the witness’ account. Though the girl was unable to recall what Baugh-Samuels said to her specifically, an officer observed two bruises on her left arm in a finger pattern, noting they were still visible five days after the incident, according to the report.
Police then saw surveillance video footage of the incident, the report describes. In it, Baugh-Samuels can allegedly be seen in a doorway, appearing to have a conversation with the girl when she attempts to pass through it. Baugh-Samuels then aggressively grabbed the girl, picked her up and lifted her over a couch that he then threw her onto, police said. Baugh-Samuels could be seen standing back in the doorway as the child cries, the report states.
When the initial co-worker is seen returning, Baugh-Samuels then begins to walk away as the child starts hitting her head against a wall, after which Baugh-Samuels rushed back into the room in an intimidating manner as if he were yelling at the girl, police said. The girl immediately balled up, tucked her face down and lifted her arms, “indicative of trying to hide herself in fear,” police said.
Speaking now with Baugh-Samuels, he told police that he stopped the child after she asked to speak to a different family care manager and tried to leave, adding he “guided” her to the couch, the report states. Police then asked Baugh-Samuels if he knew there was a video camera in the room, to which he said he did not.
Baugh-Samuels’ arraignment is scheduled for June 17 in Sumter County court, records show.
News 6 has reached out to Kids Central, Inc. and the Florida Department of Children and Families for comment.
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