By Andreas Yilma Citizen’s News
NAUGATUCK — A borough man is facing new child abuse charges on top of his previous similar charges from two years ago.
Kevin Grant, 33, of Naugatuck was issued a new arrest warrant and received new charges after Naugatuck Police learned of additional allegations that originated from a child abuse case investigated by borough police in October 2020.
The affidavit describes several occasions where Grant’s children, who are between 5 and 11-years old, were abused or made to watch their sibling’s abuse, according to the Naugatuck police news release.
Some examples include Grant beating the children with a belt until they couldn’t walk and Grant forcing a child to be put in the closet as a form of punishment. When that child had to use the bathroom, he was forced to defecate in a box while he was locked in the closet. The boy was later forced eat his feces out of the box while the siblings were forced to watch, the press release states.
“The affidavit also described instances where the siblings were given a bat with thumb tacks on it and forced to hit one another. There were also reports of Kevin putting firecrackers in one of the children’s pants and watching as they set off,” according to the press release.
Grant was arrested on Aug. 10 at Waterbury Superior Court. He was charged with reckless endangerment, risk of injury to a child and intentional cruelty to persons. He was released on a $50,000 court issued bond and appeared in court the following day.
It’s not known exactly how many children are involved or where they currently reside.
Borough police declined to comment further on the matter.
“Due to the sensitive nature of the case, we won’t be commenting any further on that investigation,” Naugatuck Police Public Information Officer Danielle Durette said.
Grant and his girlfriend, Kaitlin Elizabeth Baptiste, 31, were arrested in October 2020 after an investigation that started when the state Department of Children and Families received an anonymous complaint that a child was being locked in a laundry room.
The victim previously told authorities two years ago the alleged punishments came after a younger sibling fell and “cracked his head open” while playing and was blamed for the incident, according to Grant’s previous arrest warrant.
The victim was forced to stand in a corner and face the wall for a week, was made to sleep in a trailer outside and the garage, forced to kneel on uncooked rice, drink hot sauce and do push-ups until he couldn’t move his arms. He was also forced to stand on a ladder, which had tacks on the steps and under it, with one foot in the air, according to the previous warrant.
Baptiste was aware of the abuse, police previously said.
Police charged Grant in 2020 with risk of injury to a child, second-degree assault, intentional cruelty to persons, disorderly conduct and second-degree reckless endangerment.
Baptiste, two years ago, was charged with risk of injury to a child, second-degree reckless endangerment and conspiracy charges.
Grant and Baptiste are both scheduled to appear back in court for separate pretrial hearings on Oct. 5 for his charges from 2020 and the new charges.
