Woman charged after 6-year-old brother burns himself

Samantha Beaubriant charged with child neglect

LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A 21-year-old woman was charged with child neglect after her little brother badly burned himself when she was supposed to be watching him.

"The court finds probable cause. It is child neglect causing great harm," said Judge Jay Hurley during Friday's bond hearing.

According to investigators, the Samantha Beaubriant's 6-year-old brother sustained second degree burns over approximately 10 to 15 percent of his body.

READ: Arrest Affidavit

The incident happened Thursday afternoon inside the Fairways of Inverrary apartment complex.

Each day when that boy gets home from school, he goes to his sister's apartment just down the hallway and she watches him for several hours while his mother is at work, Local 10's Todd Tongen reported. On Thursday, his sister wasn't home so he got on the elevator and headed up to his apartment.

Police say when the boy got to the apartment he tried the door, it was open and he went inside.

"But he did not know how to turn on the lights, so he allegedly lit a match which eventually caught his own clothing on fire," the judge said during Friday's hearing.

Shortly after, the apartment complex maintenance man saw the boy wandering the hall.

"Maybe 5 or 10 minutes after he burned himself. He was crying and scared to call the police," said the apartment complex's caretaker, Neil Olieveida. "But I saw it was red. His whole body was red."

Then a neighbor called 911.

The boy was taken to Broward Medical Center where he was treated and released.

Local 10 tried speaking to his mother, but she would not answer the door.

Meanwhile his adult sister didn't help her cause. She admitted she lied to police when she told them she called a neighbor to look after her brother.