Kevin Grant
A child abuse defendant allegedly subjected the children to shocking mistreatment, including making one of them eat feces, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Cops noted defendant Kevin Grant, 33, was arrested with Kaitlin Elizabeth Baptiste, 31, back in 2020. In the 2020 case, Baptiste allegedly turned a blind eye while Grant subjected his stepson through various forms of abuse, including forcing him to sleep inside a locked closet for months, forcing him to kneel on tacks, and forcing him to drink hot sauce until he vomited.
Now officers said a woman stepped forward on May 13, 2022; she said she was the foster mother of four juveniles abused and neglected by Grant and Baptiste. The children were not named in the affidavit. The woman told cops that two of the children recently revealed abuse allegations to her.
It started, the woman said in documents (h/t WFSB), when a girl identified by police as JV1 started crying when she heard on the radio about a boy needing stitches.
JV2, a boy, encouraged Jv1 to reveal what happened and that their foster mother would protect them, according to documents.
They said that back when they lived with Grant and Baptiste, JV1 pushed JV3 into a table and said it was JV4. Grant allegedly beat JV4 with a belt and Baptiste did nothing to stop it.
“JV1 and JV2 then began to tell me that [REDACTED] (Kevin) beat JV4 so bad that he could not walk and was then thrown into a closet while [REDACTED] (Kait) still watched,” the foster mother said.
JV4 was forced to use a box as a bathroom while he was locked in the closet, the foster mohter said, citing JV1 and JV2.
“JV1 and JV2 began to hysterically cry and told me that [REDACTED] (Kevin) made JV4 eat the poop out of the box and forced them along with [REDACTED] JV3 to watch JV4 eat his poop,” the statement said. “All while [REDACTED] watched and told them this is what happens when you do not behave.”
JV1 and JV2 said they checked on JV4, who said he was thirsty, the foster mother said in her statement. They snuck him milk, but Grant and Baptiste caught them.
“After they were caught, JV2 was beaten by a belt so badly that he thought he was going to die,” the document stated.
Grant gave JV1 a bat that had thumb tacks on it, and he forced her and JV2 to hit JV4 with the bat while Baptiste laughed, the document said.
JV2 said Grant put firecrackers in JV4’s pants and set them off while Grant and Baptiste laughed, the foster mother said.
Investigators said they interviewed JV1 and JV2.
Jv2 said that Grant one day made JV4 eat poop, according to documents. He also described JV3 being forced to drink urine.
JV2 said Grant hit him with a belt, hands and sometimes a bat.
“JV2 stated there was no exact reason for Kevin hitting him, just that whenever Kevin got mad he would hit him and Kevin always got mad,” police said.
He said it left marks, but when asked if anyone at school saw the marks, he said he was at home because of COVID, according to documents.
JV2 said the worst thing to happen to him was he was forced to sleep outside and a bunch of mosquito’s bit him, police said. He said it was so cold he could not sleep. His grandmother brought him inside in the middle of the night, he said.
“Jv1 stated she saw Jv3 have to drink his pee, and she saw JV4 have to eat his own throw-up and eat his poop and drink his pee,” police wrote. JV1 also said she saw Grant once shoot JV2 with a nerf gun that had a tack attached to it. She said that tack stuck to JV2’s back and that it had to be pulled out of his back with tweezers, documents said.
Grant only hit the boys, both children said.
“JV2 pointed all the boys names out that were on the list and stated that they were the only ones to get hit because Kevin stated he could not hit girls,” police said.
“JV1 stated Kevin would hit the boys with belts, bats, sticks and a bat that had a tack taped to it,” cops wrote.
JV2 also said that Grant once shot him in the butt with a BB gun and that this grandmother had to take him to a hospital because it hurt.
“A check of medical records through DCF did not confirm any doctor or hospital visits,” police wrote.
JV1 said Grant would do, in the words of the affidavit, “really bad things like shoot JV2 with a BB gun.” Recounting an incident, she said it almost hit JV2 and he was shaking. Asked if he needed a doctor, she said no.
Grant was charged back on Aug. 10 for reckless endangerment in the second degree, risk of injury to child, and intentional cruelty to persons, but it was only recently reported.
[Image via Naugatuck Police Department]
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