Lockport Man Charged With Beating Child
LOCKPORT (CBS) -- A southwest suburban man is accused of beating a 3-year-old boy earlier this year, and police said charges could be filed against the child's mother.
Eugene K. Guenard, 30, of Lockport was charged this week with two counts of aggravated battery of a child causing great bodily harm, according to Will County court records.
Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said the abuse came to light after the boy's mother took him to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet on Sept. 29 because of bruising and redness on his ears, Kaupas said.
She called the boy's father, and the father took the child to Silver Cross Hospital.
The parents are divorced.
Their child was then taken to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Kaupas said, where doctors discovered unusual bruising all over his body that couldn't have been caused by falling or tripping.
When authorities went to the boy's home in the 2400 block of Eastline Drive outside of Joliet, they discovered two other children who were malnourished. The other children didn't have signs of physical abuse, Kaupas said, but their mother and her boyfriend — Guenard — were drug users.
"That's where all the money seemed to be going," Kaupas said.
Kaupas said Guenard tried to explain the first boy's injuries away by saying he had been playing rough with the child.
"His comments, and things of that nature, did not seem to be matching up with the physical evidence," Kaupas said.
The Department of Children and Family Services is handling the neglect case against the mother, Kaupas said, and the children have been removed from the home and placed with a family member.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2011. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
