A man entered a plea of guilty to a charge of aggravated child abuse, according to Nassau County court records.
Court records show Timothy Cassel was sentenced to five years in prison with credit for time served, which is nine months and eight days.
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Cassel was arrested in December 2020 after a child was hospitalized over the weekend with serious injuries.
According to the arrest report, the child was injured while being watched by Cassel.
The report states the child’s mother picked up the child from Cassel’s home on Saturday night and took the child to Memorial Satilla Hospital in Waycross, Georgia, after noticing her child had bruises on the face. The child was then transferred to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville because it was determined the child not only had facial bruising but bruises along its spine, four broken ribs, a fractured skull and several broken brain bleeds consistent with shaken baby syndrome, according to investigators.
Investigators said Cassel was later located asleep in the parking lot of a church. According to the report, a church member was checking on Cassel’s wellbeing when he woke up Cassel from his sleep. The report states that when Cassel woke up, he uttered that he had shaken and abused a child.
Cassel was taken into custody and driven to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, where he was questioned. Conversations between Cassel and the investigator were omitted from the arrest report, however, the report does state that a witness saw Cassel striking the child too hard on the back while burping the child.