Story Created:
May 10, 2008 at 1:28 PM EDT
Story Updated:
May 10, 2008 at 1:28 PM EDT
NEW CASTLE, Ind. (AP) — A prison guard beat his live-in girlfriend's daughter in the head while she slept because of her loud snoring, police said.
Charles A. Williamson struck the 14-year-old four or five times with the wooden handle of a claw hammer, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told police he had asked the girl and her mother to move out because both of them snore.
Williamson, 46, is an officer at the New Castle Correctional Facility, about 45 miles east of Indianapolis. He was charged with two counts of battery and faces one count of criminal confinement after the girl complained she had been handcuffed to her bed. An officer at the Henry County Jail said Williamson had bonded out, and a message at a number listed under his name said the phone was disconnected.
The girl's mother, Bobbie Jo Davis, 42, was being held at the jail Saturday on a neglect charge. The jail had no attorneys listed for Williamson or Davis.
A probable cause affidavit said Davis watched from the hallway Wednesday night while Williamson went into her daughter's bedroom and beat her with the hammer handle.
Davis told Williamson he shouldn't have beaten the girl but did not seek medical attention for her, police said. When the girl complained of a headache the next morning, Davis gave her an aspirin and sent her to school, the affidavit said. Police were later called to the school when the girl told teachers she had been beaten.
Williamson denied striking the girl with the hammer but acknowledged that he had handcuffed her, authorities said.
Trials for Williamson and Davis are scheduled for Sept. 2.
The Associated Press left a phone message seeking comment with a spokeswoman for the prison, which is run for the state by the Florida-based Geo Group Inc.
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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com