HIALEAH, Fla. — A 35-year-old woman told a detective that her 10-year-old daughter suffered a burn while they both made flan in her kitchen in Hialeah, but the detective didn’t buy it — the girl had described how her mother punished her, according to a police report.
On Friday morning, Gineth Ramirez, who also has a 2-year-old son, was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near Doral, accused of torturing her daughter, according to arrest and inmate records.
During the investigation, a Florida Department of Children and Families’ child protective investigator responded to the Thumbelina Learning Center in Hialeah and met with Ramirez’s daughter, according to police.
The girl reported Ramirez “burned her on her arm and legs because she misbehaves,” and she “makes her sit on a brown chair and ties her hands to the back with a rope or handcuffs,” according to a police officer’s report.
Records show the DCF investigator described what “appeared to be first-degree burn marks,” and a detective photographed the girl’s injuries: “A burn mark on her right forearm, a burn mark on her right shin, and a burn mark on the inside of her upper right thigh.”
A detective questioned Ramirez on Thursday in Hialeah. Ramirez said her daughter had suffered one burn 15 days ago, but she couldn’t explain the other two, according to a police officer’s arrest report.
“The victim and she were in the kitchen cooking flan ... the victim told her she wanted to eat a piece of the flan ... she handed the victim the spoon with flan and told her to blow because it was hot ... she handed the victim the spoon but she did not grab it and instead it fell on her leg,” the detective wrote, according to the arrest report.
Ramirez told police that she doesn’t use corporal punishment, according to the arrest report.
“She does discipline the victim by making her sit on a chair and face the wall when she misbehaves, but she has never tied her hands with ropes or handcuffs,” a detective wrote, according to the police report.
Police officers arrested Ramirez shortly before 3 p.m. on Thursday at her home in Hialeah, and corrections booked her shortly after 6:10 p.m. at TGKCC, records show. She faced one count of aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm.
Ramirez was scheduled to appear in bond court on Friday morning in Miami-Dade County, and the girl was scheduled to undergo a forensic interview on Friday afternoon, records show.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carmen Cabarga was set to preside over the case.
FDCF investigators ask anyone with information about child abuse to report it online on this page or call 1-800-962-2873 or The National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.
Here is a list of warning signs of child abuse:
- Unexplained injuries
- Changes in behavior or destructive or aggressive behavior
- Kids engaging in risk-taking behaviors
- Kids displaying fear of going home or of specific adults
- Changes in school attendance or performance
- Lack of personal care or hygiene
- Sexual behaviors that aren’t age-appropriate, symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases, or urinary tract infections
- Eating disorders
- Withdrawal and disassociation
- Older children using coping mechanisms such as sucking their thumb or attaching to a stuffed animal
Sources: National Children’s Alliance, Cornell University, National Library of Medicine
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
