Mom accused of putting feces in son's IV line wants trial

CINCINNATI — A woman accused of injecting her 9-year-old son's intravenous-fluid line with feces turned down a plea deal Wednesday and wants a jury trial, her lawyer said.

Candida Fluty, 35, of Kermit, W.Va., was indicted in January on two counts of felonious assault and two counts of child endangerment. Her son, referred to in court documents as "E.F." because he potentially is the victim of a crime, was born with a bowel condition called Hirschsprung's disease, which causes problems with passing stool.

The boy has had numerous surgeries and uses a colostomy bag, according to the Hamilton County prosecutor's office. He had been receiving treatment in West Virginia but began coming to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in 2011.

When he was admitted in January to Children's Hospital, prosecutors said his mother was caught on surveillance video filling a syringe with fecal matter from a colostomy bag and injecting it into his IV line, causing him to spike a fever.

"Although rare, we have seen similar cases with similar motivations," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said at the time of the indictment. "I'm just grateful that it was caught before we were confronted with a murder case."

Deters told People magazine that he didn't believe Fluty wanted to kill her child, just make him sick so the single mother could receive attention. The condition is called Munchausen syndrome by proxy though the syndrome is not mentioned in the indictment and Deters said that Fluty's son was born with his bowel disease.

Friends had multiple fundraisers to offset the family's medical bills.

On Dec. 22, the Cincinnati Bengals honored Fluty's son at a Monday Night Football game, the first time the boy had seen a game in person, according to a Facebook post from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

On Wednesday, Assistant Prosecutor Anne Flanagan told Judge Jerome Metz Jr. of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court that an investigation is continuing into the child's hospitalization and that more charges are possible. She did not mention the terms of the plea deal that Fluty had rejected.

Authorities are trying to determine if "there were other instances that are potentially suitable for indictment," Flanagan said. Earlier this month, Fluty, who earlier had posted $50,000 bond, did not appear for a court date but a warrant for her arrest was withdrawn when she showed up a day later.

Her child is now in the custody of the West Virginia Bureau for Children and Families and is living with an aunt, prosecutors said.

If convicted on the present charges, Fluty faces up to eight years in prison. Although Metz did not set a specific date, he said Fluty's trial would begin in August.

When reporters approached Fluty for comment Wednesday outside the courtroom, she and her lawyer, Elizabeth Agar, quickly walked away.