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Mom accused of using dirty diaper to sicken baby arrested again

PITTSBURGH — Sheriff's deputies said a mother on the most wanted list was arrested Thursday after failing to appear in court on charges of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person. 

Lauren Buzard did not show up to her scheduled court hearing earlier this week, officials said. She’s accused of taking a dirty diaper out of the trash and using it to make her infant son sick.

Police said surveillance cameras caught the act on tape at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in August 2013.  Cameras were set up in the 5-month-old's room after he was admitted to the hospital several times to be treated for a mysterious illness.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital concluded that Buzard had been actively harming her child in order to gain the benefit of exhaustive medical evaluation and attention.

According to Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies, one of the conditions of Buzard’s bond was that she have no contact with the baby, unless under the supervision of Children Youth and Family Services.

Deputies said after her failed court appearance, she was placed on the most wanted list. Soon after, they received an anonymous tip that she moved back into the same home where the child was living with his father and grandmother.

When authorities went to that home in South Side, officials said Buzard was found inside hiding under a pile of boxes. In addition to trying to hide from the deputies, they said she left her two children unattended in a room with “an open flame heating element.”

Buzard remains in the Allegheny County Jail, where she will be held on bond until her next court appearance.