HAMMOND MAN ACQUITTED OF CHILD MOLESTING
A jury found a Hammond man not guilty of child molesting on Wednesday.
Antonio Burton, 37, was originally charged with child molesting when the defendant is at least 21 years old, a Level 1 felony, and child molesting, fondling or touching a child under 14, a Level 4 felony.
On April 9, 2021, a woman reported to Hammond Police to report the molestation of her 13-year-old daughter, according to the probable cause affidavit. The girl told her mother she previously was afraid of telling her mother about the incidents because the man was abusive, having seen him choke a woman as well as push her down the stairs.
The incidents occurred between 2015 and 2016, when the girl was 8 years old, and she told police that Burton would watch her and her younger brother while their mother was at work, records state. She said Burton would want to play hide and seek with the kids, but he would only ever find her, court records state. Once he found her, Burton would touch her body inappropriately, even though she asked him to stop, the affidavit states. The girl told police that she woke up multiple times with him exposing himself in bed with her, records state.
PROSECUTORS DROP ‘18 BABY NEGLECT CASE
Prosecutors filed to drop a long-running baby neglect case Thursday against a Merrillville father, saying they couldn’t prove it.
Cashmere Jones, 32, was charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, court records show.
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Charges were dropped against the mother, Rebekah Ann Davis, in 2022 after she died.
The 10-month-old boy had 35 rib fractures “of varying ages,” significant brain injuries, upper leg fractures, extensive bruising, blunt abdominal trauma and extensive retinal hemorrhages, a criminal affidavit in 2018 stated.
The injuries were indicative of Shaken Baby Syndrome and with being grabbed, Commander Keith Martin, Griffith police spokesman, said then.
There was “no known medical care sought to treat the injuries which could have been life threatening,” he said.
Jones said then he didn’t call for medical help, because “911 isn’t for everyone” and he was “a Black man in America with a white woman,” according to documents.
Jones would take care of the child while Davis worked, court records state. Family members said Jones would tell the child to “shut the (expletive) up” and “would get angry when the child would wake him,” the affidavit states.
The child survived.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.