Hartford City man faces 26 battery, neglect charges in abuse of infant son
HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — A Hartford City father was charged Thursday with 26 felony counts after his infant son was determined to have as many as 19 bone fractures and bruising to his brain.
Kyle E. Weiss, 20, is charged in Blackford Circuit Court with 13 counts each of domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person under the age of 14 and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, all Level 3 felonies carrying maximum 16-year sentences.
In an affidavit, Taylor LeFever, chief deputy of the Blackford County Sheriff's Department, reported Weiss' son, born in mid-July, was taken to St. Vincent Randolph Hospital in Winchester on Aug. 29 and then flown by medical helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
The report indicated the baby had 12 "definite fractures," to his arms and legs, and several other likely fractures, to his rib cage and elsewhere.
The baby also had "hemorrhagic contusions" on his brain, described as 'like bruises on the surface of the brain (that) come from some type of trauma."
More: Muncie parents face neglect charges after baby suffers skull fracture, broken leg
Weiss, the baby's 19-year-old mother and the infant more recently lived in Parker City, according to the affidavit, but investigators believed the child's injuries occurred while the family was still residing in Hartford City.
LeFever reported that Weiss — being interviewed by Randolph County investigators — at first denied playing any role in his son's injuries, said the baby had fallen off a couch, and offered the names of other family members who might be responsible for abusing the infant.
However, he later acknowledged handling the baby roughly on repeated occasions. He described yanking the infant out of a car seat, at times by grabbing the child's ribs or arms.
Interviewed on Tuesday — by LeFever and Chad Puterbaugh, a Randolph County sheriff's detective, and a retired Indiana State Police trooper who conducted a polygraph exam — Weiss eventually admitted that while arguing with the baby's mother, he had "tossed" a car seat holding the child, and that the baby's head had "smacked" a hardwood floor.
The child was not buckled into the car seat at the time he threw it, Weiss reportedly acknowledged.
Asked why he didn't take the child for medical treatment at that point, Weiss said the baby "didn't seem hurt."
LeFever reported that when he was filling in book-in information at the Blackford County jail, "Weiss tells me that he is probably going to prison for this."
"I told him that I did not make those decisions," the chief deputy wrote.
Weiss continued to be held without bond in the jail on Friday.
The affidavit reflected the baby's mother was cooperative with investigators and also passed a polygraph test.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Hartford City man faces 26 battery, neglect charges in abuse of infant son