Orange County barber charged with murder and torture of 6-year-old boy he was babysitting

An Orange County barber remains behind bars after he was charged with the torture and murder of a 6-year-old boy he was babysitting last week. 

Ernest Lamar Love, 41-years-old of Placentia, faces one count of murder, one count of torture and one count of child abuse causing death, all felonies. He faces a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison to life, plus five additional years if convicted on all charges.

The charges stem from the death of Chance Crawford, a 6-year-old boy who was brought to the Children's Hospital of Orange County on Friday morning by Love as he was "unconscious and struggling to breathe," according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors say that he had just finished his first day of third grade the day prior, when he was dropped off at Love's barbershop at around 6:30 p.m. "so that Love could babysit him while his mother went to work at St. Joseph's Hospital."

"Less than three hours earlier, video surveillance shows Love walking into his barber shop with a large piece of raw lumber with a reluctant Chance following behind him," the OCDA's statement said. 

It is believed that Love used the lumber to beat Crawford after he peed his pants at a local park, prosecutors said. 

Upon evaluation, doctors found that the boy had flesh missing from his buttocks, which left raw, gaping wounds, along with subdural hematoma, extreme brain swelling and other injuries consistent with violent shaking, according to the DA's statement. 

"Love is accused of beating the first grader with the piece of lumber, then pouring hydrogen peroxide on the open wounds before forcing the boy to do push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks," prosecutors said. 

Finally, when Crawford collapsed, Love took him to the hospital instead of calling 9-1-1.

The boy succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday. 

"While his new classmates were celebrating the end of the first week of first grade, Chance's seat in his classroom was empty as he fought for his life in a hospital bed," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "Words do not exist to describe the absolute terror this little boy was forced to endure – all at the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting him, not torturing him to death. Now we as prosecutors will do everything we can to pursue justice for little Chance and be his protectors in death that he failed to have in life."