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Dade City Father Charged With Child Abuse

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By LISA A. DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 5, 2008

  Timothy Smith

DADE CITY - The 26-year-old father was upset that his baby wouldn't stop crying and had a soiled diaper, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.

The father picked the 2-month-old up by the arm, heard a "pop" and immediately put the infant down, the report states.

That was May 30. On Wednesday, Timothy Shawn Smith, 26, of 37313 Rose Ave., was arrested on a charge of aggravated child abuse.

At first, Smith reportedly told the baby's mother and deputies that he rolled on top of the child as they slept. A child abuse expert, however, determined the injury was not consistent with the father's statement.

In the expert's opinion, the baby had been abused, according to the report. The injury was consistent with forcefully grabbing and twisting the child's arm, another report states.

The infant was taken to Pasco Regional Hospital and then transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he was treated for a fractured right arm, according to sheriff's officials.

Smith later said he grabbed the baby by the arm, a report states.

In April, Smith was arrested on another child abuse charge stemming from a Sept. 13 incident. Sheriff's office reports say two mothers left children with Smith at a New Port Richey home while they went to Wal-Mart. When the women returned, one girl had what looked to be a red handprint on her face.

The girl's mother asked Smith what happened. He said the child fell off her bike and bruised her face. Asked if he had hit her, Smith reportedly said no, got angry, called his mother and then took a cab to Dade City.

A deputy asked the woman if there were any previous incidents of violence with Smith and she replied that he had kicked her in the stomach knowing she was pregnant, the report states. He was not charged in that allegation.

The other woman's children, who were left with Smith that day, said they didn't see the girl fall off the bike but they did hear a slap from the back room where Smith was at the time, according to the report.

A physician at Spring Hill Regional Hospital examined the girl's injured face.

"He said he believed it to be a handprint and he could not imagine anything on a bicycle to case the injury," the report states.

Smith posted $5,000 bail and was released from jail two days after his April arrest on a warrant. Coincidently, he was arraigned Wednesday in that case, and a pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 11.

He was being held on the new child abuse charge today at Land O' Lakes Jail, with bail set at $50,000.

When Smith was 15, he was charged as an adult with first-degree arson on allegations he torched a mobile home in Dade City. No one was injured, but the home was destroyed. Smith was convicted and served two years in state prison, according to records.

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