Lake Worth woman hit girl, 4, with belt for vomiting, deputies say

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - Deputies say a Lake Worth woman beat a 4-year-old girl over the belly with a belt as punishment for vomiting.

Veronica Miguel-Gaspar, 37, stands charged with child neglect after a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy met with a DCF investigator just after 3 p.m. Wednesday at a Lake Worth home, according to an arrest report.

The investigator learned a Lake Worth mother had dropped off her 4-year-old daughter at Miguel-Gaspar's house on Tuesday around 5:30 a.m. Later that evening, around 7 p.m., the mother picked the girl up.

"The victim was coughing and complaining about her stomach," the report says.

The next day, the report says, the mother took her daughter to a doctor, who found a "belt strap mark across her stomach."

The girl told her mother and doctor, the report says, Miguel-Gaspar had "hit her multiple times with a belt because she vomited."

In an interview with detectives, Miguel-Gaspar denied hitting the girl. But detectives hadn't asked about the girl's injury.

Miguel-Gaspar remained in the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday in lieu of $3,000 bond.