John Jefferson
Richard A. Leonard (Jackson County Detention Center).
A Missouri father is facing child abuse charges after he roughly handled his 2-month-old daughter — causing her to suffer 14 fractures throughout her body, cops say.
The Lee’s Summit Police Department arrested 20-year-old Richard A. Leonard on Wednesday. According to the probable cause arrest affidavit, Leonard and his wife took the girl to a doctor’s appointment and were told they should take the infant to the hospital because of bruising on her body. But the couple refused to take her and the doctor called the Department of Family Services hotline to report the abuse.
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Cops went to the couple’s home in Lee’s Summit, a suburb of Kansas City, for a welfare check on the girl. Police say the mother held the child, who seemed content, as she answered the door. Leonard and his wife then took the girl to the hospital at around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Doctors reportedly found 14 bone fractures on her arms, legs, ribs and fingers. She also had bruises on her shoulder, face and back.
Leonard at first claimed he dropped the girl after tripping. Confronted with the extent of injuries, he then said he fell on top of her after tripping, per the affidavit. Doctors told police that would explain some of the injuries but not all of them as they were throughout the body and in various stages of healing, according to cops. Medical staff described the injuries as stemming from “classic abuse” and not accidents, detectives noted.
The mother told cops that she and Leonard had been together since November 2023, married in May and had the girl in October. She didn’t think Leonard was “capable” of hurting the child but knew she hadn’t done anything to her. The mom also noted that Leonard was abused as a child and placed in foster care. Detectives then interviewed Leonard, who allegedly admitted to abusing the girl, identified in court documents as V1.
“The lack of sleep, constant crying during diaper changes and his own anger issues had become a problem resulting in abuse of V1,” cops wrote. “The abuse came in the form of being too forceful during dressing, swaddling, and diaper changes. He explained how her hands would get caught up during dressing her and how she resisted/squirmed during diaper changes and swaddling.”
Leonard reportedly admitted to using “more force than necessary” while completing those tasks and “immediately felt bad when she reacted accordingly.” He also said when he was abused as a kid he would pull out his hair to deal with stress and resorted back to that behavior recently, the affidavit said. Leonard also said the stress was building and “there was just too much going on at once,” the affidavit said. The couple had also recently moved to a new home which also added to his stress.
“The part that made him the most upset is the fact that V1 would always scream when he tried to hold her,” cops wrote.
Officers placed Leonard under arrest and took him to the Jackson County Correctional Facility where he has since posted a $50,000 bond. He has a court date scheduled for Monday. A judge ordered him not to have contact with his wife or child while out on bond.
DFS took custody of the girl, cops said.
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