Yelm police arrested a man Tuesday for allegedly burning a 4-year-old boy’s arm with a lit cigarette.
Timothy Rowland, 18, who lives on Terra View Street, was being held Wednesday at the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of second-degree assault of a child. His bail was $20,000.
According to court papers:
The Yelm Police Department’s investigation began Oct. 8 when the man brought the 4-year-old to the station to report child abuse. He said he’s in the military and recently returned from a deployment to pick up his son at his ex-wife’s home. He said he noticed a burn mark on the boy’s left inner forearm, and that the boy had several other scars on his arm.
The man said his son told him that Rowland, who lives in his ex-wife’s Yelm home, “put a lit cigarette out on his arm because he was mad at him.” The boy also said Rowland had thrown him over a fence on another occasion, and that he’d had been burned when “an iron fell on him by accident.” The boy verified the statements to a detective.
Rowland denied burning the boy but confirmed that the boy had burned his arm when an iron fell on him.
Rowland, a student at Yelm High School, had two juvenile arrests in 2011, one on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and another on suspicion of obstructing a law enforcement officer.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465
jpawloski@theolympian.com
theolympian.com/thisjustin
@JeremyPawloski
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