HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – A judge has denied bond for a father of six children who was arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse and child neglect resulting in great bodily harm.
According to an arrest report obtained by News4Jax, Steven Langford, 28, of High Springs was taken into custody Thursday night at the Columbia County Sheriffs Office after he agreed to speak with investigators about how his 3-month old baby ended up with a fractured arm and a broken leg.
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The arrest report states that on Sept. 7, a doctor at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville reported a suspicion of child abuse when Langford and the baby’s mother could not explain how the child got injured. The doctor said the injury to the baby’s arm appeared to be the result of the arm being twisted. The doctor also said the baby had a broken leg and that it appears the leg was broken on two separate occasions.
According to the report, the doctor said the second break in the leg appeared to have happened while the first break was healing and around the same time the baby’s arm was fractured.
The report states that the baby’s mother was holding the child when its arm appeared to go limp. She and Langford took the baby to a hospital where neither parent could explain to the doctor how the child got injured, the report said.
Investigators said that on Thursday, Langford called the lead detective on the case and told the detective he was going through a lot and needed to get some things “off of his chest” as he cried over the phone.
Much of the conversation between Langford and the deputy was redacted from the report except a sentence in which Langford told the deputy that one of is his other children could have jumped on the baby. In response to that statement, Langford was told by a deputy that he and the baby’s mother would have heard the baby scream if it got hurt by the other children, and Langford agreed, according to the report.
Investigators said they had enough probable cause to arrest and charge Langford with aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm. Both charges are felonies.