LANCASTER, Pa. — Police have charged a 22-year-old Lancaster man with aggravated assault and other offenses relating to the alleged abuse of an infant child in his care in Manor Township last summer.
Raydel Montero-Rico, of the 200 block of Mifflin Street, is also charged with aggravated assault of a victim less than six years of age and endangering the welfare of children, according to Manor Township Police.
Police say Montero-Rico was the sole caretaker for a three-month-old infant that was brought to Hershey Medical Center with injuries consistent with physical abuse on the night of Aug. 12, 2021.
Montero-Rico and the child's mother claimed the baby had fallen and suffered a laceration to his left eye, according to police.
He told police he had placed the infant in a rocker to to go sleep at about 5 p.m. that evening. At about 8 p.m., he said, the baby awoke and began crying.
At that point, Montero-Rico told police, the baby either fell off the rocker or the rocker fell over, causing the child's injuries.
But medical personnel at the hospital told investigators that the baby's injuries were not consistent with the information Montero-Rico and the child's mother provided, police say.
The child had suffered facial bruising, swelling around the eyes, cuts to the face and subdural hemorrhages that were suspected to be non-accidental, according to police.
Charges were filed against Montero-Rico on Tuesday.
He was arraigned before Magisterial Judge Raymond S. Sheller and remanded to Lancaster County Prison after failing to post bail of $200,000, court records show.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 3, according to court documents.
