Jennerstown man charged with brutalizing 5-year-old
Somerset Borough police found the 5-year-old lying under a purple towel on a bed in an apartment along Deal Street.
"The child was bleeding from the lips, nose and face area, had a clear large adult size bit mark on his upper right bicep, bruising around the neck, and face area. The child had a large contusion on the upper right portion of his forehead as well as open sores on multiple locations of his body. The child was lethargic and did not speak," Officer Aaron Folton wrote in a probable-cause affidavit.
The police entered the apartment on July 2 in reference to a welfare check. The caller said that the male boyfriend inside the residence was and has been becoming violent with the mother and children there. When police arrived at the residence, it took about 10 minutes of attempted knocking for the mother to answer the door and invite them inside. Once inside, Folton saw two children in a back bedroom. Officer Joe Clement discovered the third child in another bedroom and told Folton the child needed immediate medical attention. Folton then called medical emergency personnel and Clement stayed with the child until they soon arrived and the child was transported to UPMC Somerset for treatment.
Needed:Somerset County kids in need of foster homes have doubled since 2016. Here's how to help.
Zachary Blu Eppley, 25, of Jennerstown, who was charged, fled out a rear window of the Deal Street apartment when law enforcement arrived and continued to run until he was apprehended in a hotel parking lot north of the residence and placed under arrest, Folton wrote.
The mother told police that Eppley, her boyfriend, had been "aggressive" toward the children in the past. She told Folton that Eppley had hit the children, choked her and threatened her with a 9 mm pistol if she revealed his actions toward her and the children. She showed police the bruising on her back and arms from a prior assault.
The gun was found on the property, according to the affidavit.
More:A Somerset County woman has pleaded guilty in the overdose death of a young teen
Eppley was charged with one count of felony aggravated assault, and lesser graded offenses of three counts of endangering welfare of children and one count of obstructing administration of law. He was arraigned before on-call District Judge Sandra Stevanus of New Centerville.
A message:Acting DA: Baker conviction sends 'strong message' to domestic abusers
He is in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled at 11:15 a.m. July 12 before District Judge Ken Johnson of Somerset. No defense attorney is named in the court docket.
Follow Judy D.J. Ellich on Twitter at @dajudye.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: 5-year-old found brutalized in police welfare check
