Mississippi couple now charged with abuse in child’s death

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) – A Mississippi couple has now been charged with felony child abuse in the death of a 1-year-old child earlier this month.

The Sun Herald reported that 27-year-old Thomas Cannette and 27-year-old Cassandra Lopresto of Biloxi had been charged with three counts of felony child neglect after the Dec. 3 death of the child, whose name was not released.

Two other children lived in the home.

Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson said it appears the toddler had been unsupervised for some period of time before it was found unresponsive behind a sofa and was taken to Merit Health Hospital and died.

The child’s death was determined to be caused by asphyxiation. That resulted in the more serious charges.

It was not known if the couple has attorneys.

Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)