"Toddler John Doe" - 18 Months - Greencastle (W of Indianapolis) IN

Greencastle IN ---- A Greencastle man has been charged with Class D felony
battery resulting in bodily injury in connection with an incident
involving an 18-month-old boy.
Anthony M. Cox, 22, was arrested Wednesday. He was released from jail
after posting 10 percent of a $5,000 bond.
According to court documents, authorities were notified of a possible child abuse situation when the alleged
victim's mother took the boy to the Putnam County Hospital emergency
room on May 11.
The boy's mother told police she and her son lived with Cox, and that on
that day the mother left the couple's residence to attend classes at
about 7:30 a.m., leaving the alleged victim in Cox's care.
Twenty minutes after the alleged victim's mother left the home, an
affidavit of probable cause said, Cox called her to tell her he had
spanked the alleged victim for getting out of bed.
Cox went on to tell the alleged victim's mother that when the child went
to get back into his bed, the child had tripped and struck his head on a
floor heater.
The alleged victim's mother came home about three hours later and took
her son to the emergency room. She told police that she had observed no
injuries on her son when she had left for school.
Charles Bollinger, an investigator for the Putnam County Prosecutor's
Office, said he found several injuries on the child, including a welt on
the back of the right leg just below the buttocks that appeared to be
in the form of a handprint, welts and redness to the left leg just below
the buttocks and broken blood vessels below the skin, swelling and
bruising to the left side of the forehead, face and eye area.
Cox was interviewed shortly afterward, and said the alleged victim had
awakened him, and that Cox instructed the boy to return to bed. When the
child refused, court records said, Cox told police he struck the child
with an open hand to the back of the child's legs, but that he had meant
to hit him on his diaper.
"Anthony Cox states he could have hit (the alleged victim) on two
occasions," the affidavit said.
No further court dates have yet been set in the case. If convicted, Cox
could be sentenced to three years in prison.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Greencastle man police say
hampered their attempts to locate a juvenile runaway.
Anthony M. Cox, 22, has been charged in Putnam County Circuit Court with
false reporting or informing.


Cox has a charge of Class D felony pending against him in the same
court. He was arrested on that charge on May 19, and was released from
jail after posting 10 percent of a $5,000 bond.
Because of the new charge, Cox's bond for the battery charge has been
revoked.
According to police reports, Greencastle Police Department Officer
Darrel Bunten was dispatched to Cox's home on Thursday to possibly
locate a female juvenile that had run away from her home in Michigan.
"Upon arrival I spoke with a male named Anthony Cox, who I know from a
previous incident," Bunten wrote in a report.
Bunten said when he questioned Cox about the missing girl, Cox said he
had seen her in Cloverdale two days prior. When Bunten asked if he could
enter Cox's apartment, Cox allowed him entrance. Cox told Bunten he was
the only person in the apartment.
Once in the apartment, Bunten saw a young woman fitting the description
of the Michigan runaway in a hallway. He asked the girl if she was the
missing person, and she said she was, court documents said.
The girl told Bunten she had contacted Cox via a MySpace account. She
said Cox had come to get her and had brought her to Indiana.
"I spoke with Anthony Cox and asked him why he lied about her being in
the residence," Bunten wrote. "He didn't reply."
The girl was taken to Sugar Creek Detention Facility in Ladoga. A
juvenile court hearing is pending.
Bunten said after the girl was removed from Cox's home he returned to
Cox's apartment to speak with him, but that he had left.
Cox has pled guilty to the battery charge and is set for sentencing on
June 17. That charge stems from an incident in which Cox allegedly
battered an 18-month-old child, causing injuries to the child's legs,
forehead, face and eye area.
Cox admitted to striking the child, court records said.