A Utah man is facing charges after police say he placed his 4-month-old baby in scalding hot water, resulting in severe burns over 40% of the infant’s body.
A probable cause document indicated that the father, identified as 41-year-old Matthew Nielsen Beck, failed to call 911 after allegedly inflicting third-degree burns on his son. He also failed to immediately contact his wife, a nurse.
Instead, he waited at least an hour before going to urgent care, according to what the Utah Division of Child and Family Services told police, ABC 4 reports.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the incident and responded to the University of Utah Hospital on reported child abuse. Beck’s wife told police that her husband was alone in their Eagle Rock residence at the of the burning, with the baby and three other children.
“Matthew stated he knew that the water heater was set to a high temperature. Matthew stated that he failed to check the temperature of the water prior to placing the infant in the baby bath,” the probable cause document read.
“He left the infant in the water for approximately five minutes before checking the temperature and said that he was distracted by another one of his children.”
The father reportedly told police that he thought it was normal for a baby to cry when placed in water. He then claimed he didn’t realize how hot the water was until he saw the baby’s skin falling off.
Despite this, police say the defendant still delayed medical treatment and instead, applied petroleum jelly and wet towels to the burns, Fox 13 reports.
The infant’s mother told investigators that the defendant has done similar things in the past to another child, to “toughen him up.” He’s accused of putting the other child in freezing cold water until the boy’s skin turned blue.
Beck “initially suggested that he did it [used cold water] to improve the child’s circulation. After continued questioning, Matthew admitted that did this to the infant as a form of punishment,” an arrest report read.
Beck has been charged with one felony count of aggravated child abuse. He has since been released on $5,000 bail.
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