Boyertown man arrested on child abuse charges

BOYERTOWN >> A Berks County man has been arrested after police say he physically abused an infant.

Tyler Paul McKenrick, 21, of Mill Street, Boyertown, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children after bruises and fractures were discovered all over the victim’s body, according to a press release from the Berks County District Attorney’s Office.

In an affidavit of probable cause, police said that they were first alerted to the case when Detective Frank DeBellis responded to Reading Hospital at 3 a.m. on Feb. 17, 2016. He had been notified concerning suspected child abuse of a 5-week-old infant. The infant had been brought to the hospital for a fever but it was discovered that she had bruises on her face and multiple fractured bones on her left arm, legs and ribs.

After speaking with several witnesses, DeBellis spoke with McKenrick who stated that he was the father of the victim and that, after being fired from his job, he regularly cared for the victim. When asked about the bruise on the victim’s face, McKenrick said he did not know how it happened but that a padded swing arm had hit her in the face at some point in the past week while he was putting her in the swing. Police also asked about multiple rib fractures, to which McKenrick responded that he may have caused them from the way he would hold her or squeeze her to relieve gas pain. McKenrick also stated that he could have caused the fractures in the victim’s legs because he would hold her legs down when he changed her diaper if she got fussy.

Witnesses confirmed that the victim had been in McKenrick’s care on several occasions when the bruises were discovered, police said.

An examination by Child Abuse Pediatrics at Penn State Hershey Medical Center indicated, “The combination of bruises and fractures of various ages and in various locations from varying mechanisms show that the victim had been physically abused from the time she was two to three weeks old up until the time she was presented at Reading Hospital on Feb. 17.”

On Dec. 14, a warrant was issued by District judge Thomas Gauby. McKenrick surrendered to Berks County Detectives at their office. He was escorted to the Berks Sheriff’s Department for processing and arraignment.

Bail was set at $150,000. McKenrick secured bail and was released.