A Keystone Heights woman was sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading no contest to child abuse and neglect charges stemming from videos that showed her repeatedly striking, threatening, and berating her minor children.
Elani Mae Harris, 29, entered her plea Feb. 25 in Bradford County Circuit Court before Judge James Colaw and was adjudicated guilty on two counts of abuse of a child without great bodily harm and one count of neglect of a child without great bodily harm, all third-degree felonies. Nine additional counts were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Harris received credit for 68 days already served. The sentences on all three counts run concurrently.
The case originated in December 2025 after investigators with the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office reviewed 63 video files spanning November and December 2025 that depicted Harris’s interactions with her children at a residence in the area of the Keystone Heights Golf and Country Club. According to a warrant affidavit prepared by BCSO Sgt. Lakiesha Lewis, the videos showed Harris repeatedly screaming, yelling and directing profane and abusive language at the children.
Multiple recordings showed Harris slapping a child in the head and face, grabbing her by the hair, and placing her outside the residence at night as a form of punishment. Investigators also noted videos in which Harris made verbal threats to hurt the child and force her to sleep outside or on the floor.
Lewis noted in the affidavit that Harris was aware the home was equipped with cameras and knew she was being recorded, yet continued the behavior, at times making obscene gestures toward the cameras.
Harris was arrested Dec. 23, 2025, after being transferred from the Sumter County Jail to Starke, where a Bradford County warrant was served.
