HOLLY HILL, Fla. – A Holly Hill man was arrested Monday after a 2-year-old child was taken to the hospital with a cut to the groin area, according to the police department.
Investigators said a hospital had reported a child abuse case from Oct. 17 to the Department of Children and Families, which involved the child being taken to the hospital after suffering a severe cut near his genitals.
Recommended Videos
Due to fears the child was still being abused, officers contacted his mother, who explained that her cousin — Timothoes Powell, 29 — had been watching the child while she was at work, police said.
An incident report shows, Powell told the mother glass had gotten into the child’s diaper and caused the cut. Powell took the child to the hospital, where the child had to have his skin glued to repair the injury, records show.
The child’s grandfather was asleep in the home during that time, and the child’s grandmother later asked the mother to not notify anyone to prevent law enforcement from getting involved, the report shows.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Police said Powell was spotted on security video from Oct. 17 before the incident yelling at the child, squirting him with a water bottle and threatening to put soap in his mouth if he wasn’t quiet. However, the grandmother was in charge of the videos, and she refused to provide any additional footage, police said.
Following the incident on Oct. 17, the mother and child have been living with other family members, police said.
During an interview with Powell, he told investigators he had become frustrated with the child and lost his temper, but he stated that he didn’t cut the child, according to detectives.
Instead, Powell said that in his frustration, “he may have pulled (the child’s) penis downward with too much force” and began “to wipe him very hard,” the report reads.
A medical professional later told police that the laceration didn’t match Powell’s explanation, as it “was much too clean and precise to be accidental in any way,” detectives said.
Powell was eventually arrested on Monday afternoon. He faces a charge of child abuse and is held on a bond of $100,000.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: