SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — 50-year-old Zakia Patterson appeared to be in good spirits following her preliminary hearing Monday. She is facing charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
“Because it was preliminary, only one side was heard. I feel like there were a lot of assumptions, but there are things that I can’t speak on,” Patterson said after the hearing.
In January, police received a tip from a nurse at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. Patterson’s 17-year-old son arrived there by ambulance, nonverbal, bed-bound, and living with cerebral palsy; he weighed less than 60 pounds.
He had several open wounds, his feeding tube had been leaking for an unknown length of time, and his nutritional formula had not been ordered for months. This was not the first time, though.
In 2014, at just four years old, the boy was hospitalized in Dauphin County for severe malnutrition and failure to thrive. He was placed in foster care, where court documents describe him as “happy, interactive, and thriving.”
He was then put back into to Patterson’s custody. Shortly after, he was re-hospitalized again. They then moved to Lehigh County, where in 2017, the pattern continued. He was hospitalized again, removed from her custody again, thriving again, and then returned to Patterson.
Teen identified after drowning at Luzerne County dam
This time, they relocated to New York, and in 2023, the New York Administration for Child Services (ACS) found Patterson negligent.
The boy was placed in a skilled nursing facility in Brooklyn, where records show he was 72 pounds and loved socializing with everyone around him, despite being nonverbal.
During his stay, police say Patterson did not visit him once, even after officials offered to pay for her transportation.
He was sent back to Scranton in 2024 as an “in-home trial phase.”
Scranton police, the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, and county child services say they were never told he was coming or about any of the history behind him.
By January of this year, the boy weighed just 51 pounds.
“I’m hoping to receive appropriate and accurate resources that he needs to sustain life moving forward and just to get help that I need to help him,” Patterson said after the hearing.
28/22 News reached out to the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth and Families (OYFS) and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, but has not heard back.
Patterson’s attorney said she will continue to plead not guilty. A trial date has not been set.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to 28/22 News.