MIKE STAUGAITIS/Staff Photo Jason Philhower is lead from District Justice Benjamin Apfelbaum's office in Sunbury on Thursday morning.

MIKE STAUGAITIS/Staff Photo April Baker is lead from District Justice Benjamin Apfelbaum's office in Sunbury on Thursday morning.

COUPLE WAIVE HEARING IN SUNBURY CHILD ABUSE CASE

SUNBURY - A Sunbury man and his live-in girlfriend charged with felony assault offenses in connection with the extensive physical abuse of the man's 2-year-old son earlier this month waived their rights to preliminary hearings Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin Apfelbaum.

Jason Philhower, 26, and April Baker, 25, of 634 Susquehanna Ave., Apt. 2, were ordered to appear for plea court March 26 at Northumberland County Courthouse in Sunbury after waiving their cases to court. At plea court, the defendants can plead guilty or no contest, or seek a trial by pleading not guilty.

Both defendants are charged with felonies of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, and misdemeanors of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person relating to Jan. 12 incidents at their apartment.

The charges were filed by Sunbury Sgt. Christopher Blase.

In addition to his preliminary hearing, Philhower, who was represented by Northumberland County Conflicts Counselor

John Broda, also requested a bail reduction hearing in an effort to be released.

Broda asked the judge to lower his client's bail because he had no prior criminal record, has family living in the area and agreed to appear for all future legal proceedings. Broda said his client did not have the resources to post his current cash bail of $75,000.

When questioned by Northumberland County Assistant District Attorney Ann Targonski, Philhower said he was on welfare and did not have any source of income. Philhower said he previously did construction work for a Harrisburg attorney.

Targonski objected to lowering Philhower's bail due to the seriousness of the charges and his lack of employment. She also requested if the bail was reduced, that the judge would place Philhower under supervised conditions and order him to avoid all contact with the victim.

"I have great concern for the safety of the child (victim)," she said.

Apfelbaum agreed to lower Philhower's cash bail to $70,000, but he was unable to post it and was recommitted to Northumberland County Prison by State Constable Ryan Hays. The judge ordered Philhower to avoid all contact with the victim and his caregiver.

After the hearing, Targonski said, "The injuries the child suffered are serious and heart breaking. Targonski said the child is currently in the custody of his paternal grandmother, Martha Russell, of 150 1/2 Catawissa Ave., Sunbury.

Broda declined comment.

Baker, who was represented by Northumberland County Public Defender Edward Greco, did not request a bail reduction hearing and was recommitted to the county prison in lieu of $75,000 cash bail by State Constable Harold "Butch" Showers.

'Keep it up'

According to a criminal complaint filed by Blase, Baker is accused of holding the child upside down by his ankle and throwing him onto a couch, breaking his leg.

The accusations against Philhower and Baker also include reports of putting the child in "timeouts" where he had to face a wall, holding himself with outstretched arms, for up to two to three hours at a time.

Blase reported in an affidavit that the boy was taken to the emergency room at Sunbury Community Hospital on Jan. 12 by his aunt, Nina Philhower, who came by the apartment to return a DVD to Philhower, her brother.

When she arrived at the apartment door, she could hear the child screaming and crying. She then allegedly heard Baker yelling, "Keep it up and you will not get anything to eat," and "I wish you would get out of my life."

The aunt opened the door and saw Baker walking through the living room, holding the boy upside down by his ankle and throwing him on the couch. She put a diaper on the child before putting a blanket over his head, she said.

When the aunt asked to see the child, Baker removed the blanket and the aunt saw the child was bleeding from his mouth and had a large bruise on the left side of his face.

The aunt offered to take the child to her house, and Baker agreed, according to the affidavit. When she put the boy's coat on, she noticed he would not stand on his left leg.

Nina Philhower convinced her brother to allow her to take the child to the hospital, Blase reported. After examination at the hospital, the boy was transferred to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he was examined by Dr. Pat Bruno, who specializes in identification and treatment of child abuse victims.

Police said the child had a broken left leg, and bruises of varying ages on his buttocks, ear, mouth, arms, head, eyelid and penis.

Jonathan Chalkin, a male who said he was at the house when Baker allegedly carried the child by his ankle and threw him on the couch, told police the boy had no problem walking and that he saw no injury to his leg until then. He also admitted, police said, to seeing both Jason Philhower and Baker strike the child on the buttocks repeatedly over the past week, both while the child was wearing a diaper and when he wasn't. He also saw both of them squeeze the child's face and yell at him, and put him in the "timeouts."

When Baker was interviewed by police, she said the child suffered a broken leg from a fall in the bathroom when he slipped on water or urine. The boy did not cry or show any signs that his leg was hurt, she said. Baker told police she was the only one in the bathroom when the fall occurred and Philhower was not home.

Asked about the child's bruises, the only one she could explain was one behind his ear, which she said occurred when the boy fell and hit an end table.

As for the other injuries, Baker said, "Only a psychopath would do that to a child, and I would never do that because I want to be a pediatric nurse."

Philhower told police the child was fine when he came back from work at about 11:50 a.m. Jan. 12. He went back to work and came home again at 2:30 p.m., after the alleged fall in the bathroom, and said the child did not look hurt. He was called at work again at 3:30 p.m. when the aunt wanted to take his son.

The father told police Baker calls him for any decisions on the child and said it would be common to get calls at work and have to come home if someone wanted to take the child.

When asked about the bruises, Philhower told the same story about the fall on the end table and said the child has low iron. The bruises on the child's buttocks were a week old, saying he changed the diaper a week ago and the child did nothing but sit on the couch for an hour. But when he changed the diaper again after that hour, he said, "The bruises were just there; I can't explain it."