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Sitter Charged After Dad Discovers Infant's Injuries

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By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: January 14, 2009

HOLIDAY - He blamed his dog, but authorities and physicians didn't buy it.

John Joseph MacCarelli III faces a charge of felony child abuse, accused of beating an infant he was watching while the boy's father worked.

After the 3-month-old's father picked him up from MacCarelli's home early Sunday and tried to wake him up at home for a feeding, he noticed the boy was bruised and bleeding, a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report states.

The father took the boy to Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs. The infant was transferred to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, where doctors discovered he had numerous bruises on his head, forehead, a cut behind his left ear and one on his face, and one under his tongue, a report states. He has bruising around his mouth and abrasions on his neck, arms, chest and legs.

MacCarelli told deputies his 20-pound beagle jumped on the baby once, but the physician said the injuries aren't consistent with that explanation, a report states.

MacCarelli, 33, of 3147 Sandhill Drive, is being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail; bail is set at $10,000.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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