A 35-year-old Leesburg man was charged with domestic child abuse recently after his attempt to discipline a boy and girl reportedly got out of control.
The juvenile female victim told a Lake County sheriff’s deputy her younger brother started throwing a fit, so she told Charlie Junior Brown that he needed to come get him to listen. She said Brown grabbed a belt and started spanking the boy and she tried to stop him, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The female victim said Brown took the boy to the bedroom. She said she started yelling at Brown, and he came out of the room and started hitting her with the belt. The female victim said she was able to grab her phone and run away from Brown, the report said.
The female victim said while she was running away, Brown kicked her brother and was taunting them. She said she took her brother and locked them in a room while calling law enforcement. The deputy observed a large fresh red welt on the female victim’s left forearm that was about 6 inches in length and a circular fresh red welt on her left upper thigh area. She said the injuries were from where Brown struck her, according to the report.
The juvenile male victim said Brown got angry and got a belt and started hitting him. He said Brown kicked him in the shin area and hit him in the upper area of his arm. The deputy observed slight bruising to the middle part of the male victim’s right shin but did not see any bruising in the area of the arm where he said he was hit, the report said.
After being read his Miranda warning, Brown said the male victim was yelling and screaming about the television set, so he grabbed a belt in an effort to scare the children into behaving. Brown said he started swinging the belt around and the juvenile female got in the way, causing him to accidentally hit her. He said at no time did he kick the male victim and he did not hit the female victim anywhere but the arm, which he claims was an accident, according to the report.
Brown was charged with one count of aggravated domestic child abuse and one count of domestic child abuse. He was taken to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $6,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on March 1.
