A Virginia teenager was arrested after a shocking photograph of her baby boy hanging from a hook made its way onto Facebook, CBS 6 reported.
Facebook users were horrified when they saw Alexis Breeden's 14-month-old son hanging by his blue shirt from a hook that appeared to be suspended from a door frame. Spotsylvania County investigators said Breeden took the picture, which shows the toddler struggling and uncomfortable, in early September.
But police say it was the son's father who uploaded the photo to Facebook after arguing with Breeden, 18.
"The baby's father and mother had an argument and in retaliation, the father posted this on Facebook to get the mother in trouble," Sergeant James Konicki of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office told CBS 6.
The child victim unit of the sheriff's office began investigating the alleged abuse when users posted the viral picture on the office's Facebook page.
Breeden turned herself into police last Thursday and is now facing felony charges of child abuse. The teenage mother also has a previous arrest for assault and battery against her mother, according to General District Court documents obtained by the station.
Breeden pleaded guilty to the assault charges and was ordered to attend anger management and undergo a psychiatric evaluation. She is currently out on bail and is due in court in a few weeks for violating a protective order from an unrelated charge, CBS 6 reported.
After she was charged, Breeden took to Facebook to express her thoughts to those who criticized her parenting skills.
"They think this was immature and dumb of me but he saw I was playing and no one needs to know everything going on because some of you aren't parents and no one knows the full story," Breeden wrote, according to the station. "Mind your own f------ business."
But she later told the station she loves her son and regrets taking the picture that was intended to be a joke.
"I didn't do anything and I never will do anything to hurt my son. My son was not hurt at all," Breeden said.
