Woman facing charges after allegedly trying to drown 1-year-old child in Robinson Township

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Allegheny County Police arrested 22-year-old Rainelle Wolfe on felony child abuse charges. Wolfe is accused of holding her 1-year-old’s head underwater, angry that the child “soiled” herself.

Investigators say the alleged incident happened in late March at the Drury Inn & Suites in Robinson Township, where Wolfe was staying with her two daughters, 1 and 2 years old. A fourth person, who police are not identifying, was also in the room. That witness told police Wolfe became “increasingly angry” with her daughter, slapping her twice in the stomach after the baby soiled herself.

The witness says Wolfe took the baby by her arms and threw her in the bathtub, holding half her face in 1 to 2 inches of water, while the tub continued to fill up. The witness says Wolfe repeatedly yelled to “shut the (expletive) up.”

The witness says when Wolfe allowed her daughter to come back up, the baby began coughing water out of her nose and mouth. Wolfe then allegedly left the baby alone in the tub with the water still running.

Friends of the suspect say she’d leave her children with them for days and weeks at a time, and the children were dirty and smelly.

Police say when they arrested Wolfe, she was under the influence.

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