"Toddler Jane Doe" - 3 yo - Punta Gorda (S of Port Charlotte) FL

Poster's Note: I can tell right away from the suspect's ink collar and the fact that he is out of jail on bond for a felony that this is someone I would trust implicitly (not)!

A Port Charlotte man was arrested by Punta Gorda Police and charged
with child abuse for allegedly hitting his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.

Punta Gorda Police officers were called to
Charlotte Regional Medical Center after a 3-year-old girl was brought to
the emergency room with deep bruises to her forehead and cheek.

The mother told police she received a text
message from her boyfriend on August 12 that said her daughter had
fallen in the bathtub and hurt her face.

When the mother saw a bruise on her daughter's face that night,
she told police she didn't think much about it.

But as time passed, the bruising turned deep blue/green and started
taking the shape of three or four fingers and a palm, according to reports.

"At that point she was very worried and the
bruising had developed into the pattern of a hand." said Troy
Bettencourt with the Punta Gorda Police Department.

On August 16, when the mother returned home
from work, she said her daughter was in a confused daze and didn't
recognize her. She also said the girl had been sleepy and sluggish the
past few days, reports said.

That's when the mother brought her three year
old daughter to the Charlotte Regional Medical Center – where a nurse
recognized the signs of abuse and called the cops.

When officers asked the girl who hurt her, she said, "Joe smacked [her]," according to reports.





The mother denied harming her child and said the only person with her daughter
at the time of the incident was her boyfriend, 29-year-old Joseph Caruso.

"Because he was frustrated with her, he held her face and squeezed it really hard while trying to bathe her," said Bettencourt.

Caruso was arrested and charged with felony child abuse. He was taken back to the Charlotte County Jail just two
weeks after being released on bond for a grand theft charge.

This may seem sexist but it's all IMHO....
What is wrong with these women with children hooking up with men who have nefarious and felonious pasts?
I know (because I am one of them) that there are many honest, stable, law-abiding men out there.
Even if you're not a 10 (sorry Zanny)... do you feel it necessary to latch onto any piece of poop that flows by you in the stream? Do you need companionship so bad that you are willing to risk your child's life on it?
I see this constantly and I am disgusted!