SUNBURY - A Sunbury man was committed to Northumberland County Prison Tuesday after being accused of abusing his 2-year-old son. His girlfriend was charged as well, including for allegedly holding the boy upside down by his ankle and throwing him onto a couch, breaking his leg.
The accusations against Jason Philhower, 26, and April Baker, 25, both of 634 Susquehanna Ave., Apt. 2, also include reports of putting the child in "timeouts" where he had to face a wall, holding himself with outstretched arms, for up to two to three hours at a time.
Philhower and Baker face felony counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
The couple was arraigned before Magisterial District
Judge Benjamin Apflebaum of Sunbury and held on $75,000 cash bail each.
'Out of my life'
Sgt. Christopher Blase reported in an affidavit that the boy was taken to the emergency room at Sunbury Community Hospital on Thursday by his aunt, Nina Philhower, who came by the apartment to return a DVD to Philhower, her brother.
When she arrived at the apartment door, she could hear the child screaming and crying. She then allegedly heard Baker yelling, "Keep it up and you will not get anything to eat," and "I wish you would get out of my life."
The aunt opened the door and saw Baker walking through the living room, holding the boy upside down by his ankle and throwing him on the couch. She put a diaper on the child then put a blanket over his head.
When the aunt asked to see the child, Baker removed the blanket and the aunt saw the child was bleeding from his mouth and had a large bruise on the left side of his face.
The aunt offered to take the child to her house, and Baker agreed, according to the affidavit. When she put the boy's coat on, she noticed he would not stand on his left leg.
Nina Philhower convinced her brother to allow her to take the child to the hospital, Blase reported. After examination at Sunbury, the boy was transferred to Geisinger Medical Center, where he was examined by Dr. Pat Bruno, who specializes in identification and treatment of child abuse victims.
Police said the child had a broken left leg, and bruises of varying ages on his buttocks, ear, mouth, arms, head eyelid and penis.
'Timeouts'
Jonathan Chalkin, a male who said he was at the house when Baker allegedly carried the child by his ankle and threw him on the couch, told police the boy had no problem walking and that he saw no injury to his leg until then. He also admitted, police said, to seeing both Jason Philhower and Baker strike the child on the buttocks repeatedly over the past week, both while the child was wearing a diaper and when he wasn't. He also saw both of them squeeze the child's face and yell at him, and put him in the timeouts.
'Only a psychopath'
When Baker was interviewed by police, she said the child suffered a broken leg from a fall in the bathroom when he slipped on water or urine. The boy did not cry or show any signs that his leg was hurt, she said. Baker told police she was the only one in the bathroom when the fall occurred and Philhower was not home.
Asked about the child's bruises, the only one she could explain was one behind his ear, which she said occurred when the boy fell and hit an end table.
As for the other injuries, "Only a psychopath would do that to a child, and I would never do that because I want to be a pediatric nurse," Baker said.
Philhower told police he came back from work Thursday about 11:50 a.m. and that the child was fine. He went back to work and came home again at 2:30 p.m., after the alleged fall in the bathroom, and said the child did not look hurt. He was called at work again at 3:30 p.m. when the aunt wanted to take his son.
'Can't explain it'
The father told police Baker calls him for any decisions on the child and said it would be common to get calls at work and have to come home if someone wanted to take the child.
When asked about the bruises, Philhower told the same story about the fall on the end table and said the child has low iron. The bruises on the child's buttocks were a week old, saying he changed the diaper a week ago and the child did nothing but sit on the couch for an hour, but when he changed the diaper again after that hour, "the bruises were just there; I can't explain it."