Investigators say the boy’s prescribed medication was withheld for about six months before his liver failed.

MIAMI, Fla. — A Miami-Dade mother is accused of withholding her 15-year-old son’s prescribed liver medication for about six months, a lapse investigators say caused the boy’s liver to fail and left him needing an immediate transplant to survive.

Authorities identified the defendant as Edmonde Devalon, 36, who was arrested Feb. 17 and booked on a charge of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm. The allegation centers on what investigators described as a long interruption in treatment for the teen’s unspecified liver disease. The case now turns on a narrow but serious claim: that Devalon knew the medication was necessary, understood that stopping it could be life-threatening, and still did not give it to him for months.

According to the arrest affidavit, the alleged neglect came into focus on Feb. 11 at about 3 p.m. at a home on Northeast 195th Street in Miami. Investigators wrote that the victim, described in the report as a 15-year-old Black male, had gone without the medication needed for his liver disease for about six months. The affidavit says that gap in care caused the teen’s liver to fail and forced an immediate transplant. After being advised of her rights, Devalon told deputies she had not given the boy his medication since the middle of last year because she was overwhelmed by the number of children she had, investigators wrote. Deputies also wrote that she acknowledged the medicine was necessary and that failing to provide it would be life-threatening.

The records released so far offer a blunt accusation, but they leave major parts of the medical timeline unclear. The affidavit does not name the boy’s underlying liver disease, does not say what medication he had been prescribed and does not explain when doctors determined his liver had failed. It also does not say on what date he underwent transplant surgery, where that procedure took place or what his condition was after the operation. Public reports show Devalon was arrested at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 17 at 1611 NW 12th Ave. in Miami, an address associated with a major medical campus. Authorities have not publicly explained whether she was taken into custody at or near the hospital where the boy was treated, or whether that location was tied to an interview, an investigation or a court-directed process. Those unanswered details are likely to shape how the case is understood as more records emerge.

The allegation fits into one of the most serious categories of child abuse cases because it centers not on a sudden injury, but on an extended failure to provide medically necessary care. Florida law allows prosecutors to pursue aggravated child abuse charges when conduct is alleged to have caused great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement. In practical terms, investigators are saying the boy’s worsening condition was not simply the result of illness, but of a months-long interruption in treatment that they believe his mother controlled. That makes the affidavit important not only for what it says, but for what it suggests prosecutors may still need to prove: that the medication was available, that Devalon was responsible for giving it, that the teen’s decline tracked with the missed doses and that medical professionals can connect the treatment lapse to the organ failure that followed. Those are questions often answered later through hospital records, expert testimony and additional court filings.

For now, the public record is limited to the affidavit, jail information and brief reporting based on those documents. The charge listed against Devalon is a second-degree felony count of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm. As of the day after her arrest, she remained in custody at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond. Court conditions required that any contact with the victim be supervised if she were released. A judge also barred her from new criminal activity and from possessing drugs, weapons or ammunition, according to local reporting on the bond conditions. No next court date was listed in the initial reports, and prosecutors had not publicly outlined whether additional charges could follow. It was also not clear whether the child’s father, another guardian or state child-welfare agencies had taken over his care after the transplant.

The case has drawn attention because of the stark language investigators used to describe the alleged admission and because the victim is a teenager whose survival, authorities say, depended on a transplant. The setting is not an abstract medical dispute but a family home in northeast Miami-Dade, where deputies say prescribed treatment stopped sometime in the middle of 2025 and did not resume before the boy’s condition became critical. A probable cause affidavit is only an initial charging document, not a finding of guilt, and Devalon will have the chance to challenge the allegations in court. Still, the accusation presents a deeply personal picture of strain inside a household with multiple children and a child with a serious disease. Officials have not identified the teen by name because he is a minor, and they have released no statement from his doctors or relatives beyond the allegations summarized in the arrest papers.

The next steps in the case are likely to come through a formal court appearance, possible prosecutor filings and any release of additional investigative records. Prosecutors may seek medical documentation, pharmacy records and testimony from physicians to establish what treatment the boy required, when doses were missed and how quickly his health deteriorated. Defense attorneys, if appointed or retained, could challenge how investigators interpreted Devalon’s statement, whether others shared responsibility for the child’s care and whether the state can directly tie the missed medication to liver failure. Child-protection questions may continue outside the criminal case as well, especially if other children were living in the home. As of Wednesday afternoon, though, the public record still showed the same central point: authorities say the teen survived only after an emergency liver transplant, and the mother is now facing a felony charge tied to the months before that surgery.

Where the case stands now is relatively simple even if many facts remain missing. Devalon has been arrested, charged and ordered to have only supervised contact with the boy if released. The next clear milestone will be the listing of a court date and any new filings that spell out the medical evidence behind the allegation.