HALLAM, Pa.–Hallam Police charged a man on Wednesday with endangering the welfare of a child after his 13-month-old daughter suffered a leg fracture last year.
Matthew Aaron Bobb, 33, of Mount Wolf, is also charged with aggravated assault.
Police were alerted to a child abuse case that possibly occurred in Hallam Borough on Dec. 1 after Bobb’s daughter was treated at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital with a fractured femur, according to the criminal complaint.
Physicians told police that Bobb’s daughters injury was severe and described it as a through and through fracture of the left femur near the hip, court documents state.
Investigators interviewed Bobb, in which he explained he took custody of his daughter on Nov. 29. He said the girl’s mother told him that she was sick and clingy. Bobb told police he then took his daughter to Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party, where she played on the rides. He mentioned she did not act like she was in pain while on the rides, and attributed her fussiness to her cold, documents state.
When he put his daughter to sleep after returning home from Chuck E Cheese–Bobb told investigators she fell asleep with no issues. He left for work around 9:20 p.m. and when he returned home on Nov. 30 around 6 a.m., she was still asleep in her crib. Bobb’s daughter awoke about an hour later. As he was changing her diaper, Bobb told police that’s when he noticed that her left thigh was red, swollen and hot to the touch. He texted his daughter’s mother and then took the girl to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital, documents state.
His daughter was then transferred to Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.
Bobb was arraigned on July 6 and taken to York Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail. He has since posted bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.
