Florida babysitter who attempted to circumcise 2-year-old boy charged with child abuse

Natalie Neysa Alund and Patricio G. Balona, USA TODAY NETWORK
·2 min read
636

A Florida man who police said apparently tried to circumcise a toddler he was babysitting has been charged with felony child abuse.

Timothoes Powell, 29, was arrested Monday on a first-degree aggravated child abuse charge in connection to the Oct. 21 incident involving a 2-year-old boy, the Holly Hill Police Department reported.

The city where the reported crime took place is in Volusia County about three miles north of Daytona Beach.

According to police, detectives learned about the child's injuries Oct. 21 when a state Department of Children and Families investigator asked for assistance with the case, the News Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network reported.

Man convicted of trying to avenge death: Chicago father faces 30-year sentence for avenging son's murder in years-long gang war

Babysitter jailed on $100,000 bond

Online records show Powell remained jailed Thursday on $100,000 bond.

Public records show his last known address was in Ruther Glen, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Caroline County about 30 miles north of Richmond, the state's capital.

He lured them promising candy: Now this Florida man faces 161 child molestation charges

'Much too clean and precise to be accidental'

According to Powell's arrest report, a DCF investigator was notified by the staff at a local hospital that the boy had been brought in for treatment for a cut to his penis on Oct. 17. The injury caused bleeding, officials said.

Powell, who was caring for the child while the child's mother was at work, was seen on surveillance video changing the child's diaper, investigators said. He initially told police that he found a piece of glass in the diaper and believed it cut the child, his arrest report states.

When confronted about the child's injury, Powell said he was frustrated, lost his temper and pulled down on the child with force hurting him, according to the report.

But a DCF nurse and a doctor said the cut was much too clean and precise to be accidental.

"(The nurse) did note that the injury had to have been inflicted by someone, 'as if they may have tried to circumcise,'" police wrote in the arrest report.

A doctor also agreed that the wound was too precise for a skin tear and was done with intent, Holly Hill police investigators said.

Plea not yet entered in case

Volusia County Circuit Court records obtained by USA TODAY show Powell is represented by the public defender's office and has not yet entered a plea in the case.

His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Powell is slated to be arraigned on the charge Nov. 21.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man arrested for allegedly trying to circumcise toddler