EAST STROUDSBURG -- A father in the Poconos is charged with his infant daughter's death.
Anthony Gudino, 25, of East Stroudsburg brought his 5-month-old daughter to Pocono Medical Center on Friday. According to police, she was limp and not responding.
Hospital staff said Gudino was intoxicated and claimed he found his daughter in that condition on a swing. The infant was found to have several injuries and died a short time later, according to Stroud Area Regional Police.
Police believe the baby was fatally injured at Gudino's home on Ridgeway Street in East Stroudsburg. Gudino is now charged with criminal homicide.
“I've seen him outside in the yard with the children,” said neighbor Robert Mueller. “I know they just had a baby because I heard it myself over there, crying, what not, and I've seen them out in the front yard.”
Investigators say around noon Friday, Gudino approached an East Stroudsburg University police officer parked at a WaWa near Gudino's apartment. Gudino said his baby wasn't breathing properly and asked to be taken to the hospital.
Doctors found the infant limp and not breathing with numerous traumatic injuries to her head, including a skull fracture.
She died a short time later.
Mueller recalled seeing a lot of investigators on his block that day.
“Local police, then I saw the state police, and then I saw domestic service here from what I understood,” said Mueller.
Police say Gudino told them he was the only one taking care of the child that day and discovered her not breathing while she was strapped into a baby swing.
Police say Gudino admitted to smoking marijuana the day before and hospital staff said he appeared intoxicated when he arrived with the infant.
20-year-old Day Andrek and 23-year-old Anthony Santana have a three-month-old boy and can't imagine how a parent could do this.
“You have that connection. It's difficult to think that anyone could hurt their child. I see so many news stories about people crazy things to these children,” said Andrek.
“I just don't understand it,” said Santana. “As a father, you would think that you have that instinct to protect, rather than hurt.”
Gudino is being held without bail at the Monroe County Correctional Facility. He has a preliminary hearing set for May 17.
