A 30-year-old Rhode Island man is accused of beating a Connecticut child with a belt and stuffing a sock into her mouth so she could not scream for help.
When the girl returned home to New London from Mark Thornton’s home in Hopkinton, Rhode Island on Sunday with bruise marks on her legs, arms and back, her mother called New London Police, according to a news release from Rhode Island State Police.
Police said the abuse happened on May 14. The victim was treated at a New London Hospital and released.
Detectives from Rhode Island State Police went to Thornton’s house at 4 p.m. on Monday with a court-authorized search warrant and said they found “evidence of a disturbance” in the home.
Thornton was charged with first-degree child abuse and arraigned on Tuesday.
Bail was set at $20,000 and Thornton was sent to the Adult Correctional Institute, the prison in Rhode Island.
