Abuser held in death of infant son

Evidence in the death of Alexis Medina’s son, Alex, points to shaken-baby syndrome, according to hospital and police records. Authorities said the baby also suffered broken ribs. In interviews with police this week, Medina, 23 — who has at least four children with two mothers — said that he had cared for the infant boy in the hours before his death and admitted that he had grown frustrated when he could not easily soothe Alex’s crying, police said.

On Tuesday morning, the report says, the father “told us that he placed his son face down in his crib and pushed on his back until he became quiet and fell asleep. Medina told us he had done that in the past, and it has usually worked and his son would fall asleep.’’

According to the police report, sometime earlier that day, the baby’s mother, Jocelyn DeJesus, called Medina to say the infant had stopped breathing. The boy was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and then to Tufts Medical Center in Boston, where he was pronounced dead Wednesday, authorities said.

Medina was arraigned on Wednesday in Lawrence District Court on assault and battery charges and ordered held without bail. He will be charged with murder, Essex prosecutors said.

State child-protection officials said there is little they can do to stop an ex-convict with a history of child abuse from taking care of other children after prison time has been served. Only a specific new complaint against the person relating to child abuse or neglect could result in prohibiting him or her from doing child care.

“We have no legal basis to do something like that,’’ said Alison Goodwin, spokeswoman for the state Department of Children and Families.

Jetta Bernier — executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, a child-abuse prevention organization — said deaths and injuries from shaken-baby syndrome are tragically common across the country and are disproportionately caused by troubled young men, typically between ages 18 and 25, who do not know how to soothe a young child or how to ask for help if they are overwhelmed.

“This is a classic situation,’’ said Bernier, whose organization works statewide to encourage parenting classes.

Medina has a history of financial troubles and has been repeatedly accused of physically lashing out at his children. In 2007 and 2008, while living in Methuen, he was accused of repeated physical assaults on a daughter, one of two children he had with Willmarie DeJesus, who said she is no relation to Jocelyn DeJesus.

While living with Willmarie DeJesus, Medina was also accused of violating a restraining order against her, as well as sending her threatening messages on the Internet site MySpace. During this time, according to court records, Medina at least once fractured his daughter’s skull, and once caused her to temporarily stop breathing when he pushed a bottle into her mouth too hard.

Willmarie DeJesus said that Medina had a temper and had trouble holding a job.

“Bosses, he would give them attitude,’’ she said in an interview.

She broke down crying when she was told of Alex’s death. “That’s horrible. I know it’s not my child, but that’s horrible.’’

She said her daughter, now 3, whom Medina was convicted of assaulting, has made a full recovery.

Willmarie DeJesus said she and Medina were married and had custody of their children before his arrest. She said her mother briefly took custody of both children after Medina’s arrest, but that she regained custody after taking parenting classes. She said she and Medina are divorced and that she has an active restraining order against him.

Facing criminal charges for abusing that daughter, Medina ultimately accepted a plea agreement to serve an 18-month prison term, said Essex district attorney spokesman Steve O’Connell. O’Connell said the case was reviewed for indictment, which would send it to Superior Court for possibly stiffer sentences; however, prosecutors decided against that option because it was Medina’s first offense and they concluded he was unlikely to get a harsher sentence than 18 months.

During his prison term at the Essex County House of Correction, he applied for, but was denied, parole. Parole Board member Pamela Lombardini, in explaining her decision to reject, said, “This man is a danger.’’

He finished his term by the autumn of 2009, and was ordered by the Probation Department to attend parenting and anger-management classes, as well as submit to random screening for alcohol and drug use.

Medina apparently chose to ignore the parenting class requirement, according to a violation notice filed by the Probation Department Wednesday, after the baby boy died.

It remains unclear whether Medina complied with any other probation conditions over the past year. Coria Holland, a spokeswoman for the Probation Department, said in an e-mail yesterday that “this case is currently under review.’’

Meanwhile, Medina moved into a Lawrence apartment with Jocelyn DeJesus, the mother of Alex, who was born Sept. 8, and another child by Medina.

Lawrence police responded to their apartment on Inman Street Tuesday morning and found the infant unresponsive. The child was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, then transferred to Tufts New England Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead Wednesday, according to Blodgett’s office.

Medina was interviewed by State Police and Lawrence police at Tufts, where the family had gathered, according to police.

Medina first offered an innocent explanation, saying he was tossing the infant and catching him. Police pressed him to explain how Alex came to be so severely injured by Tuesday. In videotaped statements, Medina ultimately expressed his frustrations taking care of the baby and acknowledged his prior child abuse convictions in Methuen.

Lawrence Police Chief John Romero said his department and other police agencies are not routinely notified that a person convicted of child abuse has been released from prison and is potentially caring for children again, and there are no government systems in place to do that.

“It’s just a tragic story, a terrible story,’’ he said.

Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com; John Ellement at ellement@globe.com; and Patricia Wen at wen@globe.com.