A Kenna man faces seven felony counts of child abuse for allegedly repeatedly injuring his girlfriend’s 17-month-old child over a course of several weeks.

Lowell Travis Parsons, 28, of Kenna was charged with seven counts of child abuse resulting in injury in connection to his incidents.

According to the complaint filed in Magistrate Court by Deputy B.L. Varney of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, on Feburary 7 he and Deputy R.H. Mellinger responded to a call from Toni L. Carmichael that her boyfriend, Parsons, had been abusing her 17-month-old child.
The deputies met Carmichael at Jackson General Hospital where she gave a detailed statement of the allegations.

Carmichael said that the prior evening, the couple had gotten into a fight at Parsons’ residence. During the argument, she said that Parsons grabbed the child by his throat, threw him against the wall and said, “You are the reason that we fight.”

She also detailed several other instances of Parsons allegedly injuring her child, including holding the child’s face underwater while bathing him three weeks prior.

According to the complaint, the officers observed several bruises all over the child’s body, including to the face, neck, abdomen and legs, and photographed the injuries.

Parsons was arrested and arraigned before Magistrate Tom Reynolds Sunday, February 8.
In addition to the child abuse charges, Parsons also had an outstanding warrant for battery stemming from an instance that allegedly occurred outside the Roundhouse Bar in Evans on January 10.

Reynolds set bond at $10,000 for each felony count of abuse, and $2,000 for the misdemeanor battery charge.

Parsons was released on Tuesday, February 10, on the $72,000 bond.

A preliminary hearing in the child abuse case has been set for Thursday, February 12, at 9:30 a.m. in Magistrate Court.