Anthony Gulledge was charged in Memphis this week for allegedly beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old son after the child took the last slice of cheesecake.
Gulledge was charged with neglect, aggravated child abuse, and domestic assault while the boy's mother, Katrina Johnson, was charged with aggravated child abuse for not doing enough to stop the beating and for not seeking medical attention for her son
until the next day, according to WREG-TV.
Johnson reportedly told authorities that Gulledge came home Saturday and was immediately enraged after learning that her son had taken the last piece of cheesecake. Johnson told police that is when Gulledge went to her son's bedroom, dragged him out by his ankles, and whipped him. He later returned to hit the 3-year-old again, according to WREG-TV.
The boy was originally taken to a Germantown, Tennessee, hospital before being transferred to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis.
He was listed in critical condition on Monday with a dislocated vertebrae and a broken femur.
The Commercial Appeal reported that the boy also has numerous bruises, including on his lungs.
Gulledge had been arrested twice before on charges of beating the boy's mother, whom he has had a 10-year relationship with.
He was arrested last June for allegedly choking and beating Johnson when she was six months pregnant, according to an affidavit obtained by The Appeal. Gulledge was also picked up in October for beating her.
Johnson's sister,
Angel Scott, told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that she never expected Gulledge would beat a child to the point of near-death.
"I just wouldn't expect him to hurt the baby like that; this baby could have died," Scott said. "I know my sister wouldn't do anything to hurt her child. She wouldn't, but I know that she's afraid of her boyfriend, and that's the only reason she didn't try to defend the baby like she wanted to. She's very afraid of him, I know she is."
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