Bradenton man charged with aggravated child abuse after slamming girlfriend's daughter on floor, breaking her leg

MANATEE -- A Bradenton man is facing aggravated child abuse charges after investigators say he admitted pulling his girlfriend's daughter off the couch and breaking her leg by slamming her on the floor, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Roger Young, 32, was arrested after being questioned at the sheriff's office Child Protective Investigative Division offices at 8:30 p.m. Friday and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to his arrest report.

Young is being held at the Manatee County jail on $75,000 bond.

The report did not give the name or age of the victim.

Young was watching the girl while his girlfriend, her mother, was at work.

After being brought to the CPID office for a recorded interview, Young changed his story. He said he could have set her down too hard when he picked the victim off the couch.

"The defendant admitted to having anger problems, and admitted he was frustrated when he did it," investigator Joni Zimmermann wrote in the arrest report.

Emergency room workers where the girl was treated for a spiral fracture to the femur told investigators the victim had been treated two months prior for an injury to the same leg while in Young's care. At the time, Young had said the girl had fallen off the bed, but during his recorded interview Friday he reportedly admitted it was from hitting the girl too hard.

The girl's mother has also faced charges for child neglect.

In March 2013, Cherie Matthews was charged with manslaughter of a child by culpable negligence in the death of her 6-month-old daughter, Izabella.

In April 2012, Matthews fell asleep while high on drugs. During her sleep, her baby girl rolled off the bed landing face down and smothering in a laundry basket full of clothes.

Her boyfriend at the time, Izabella's father, came home and found the baby not breathing.

Matthews was pregnant when she pleaded no contest to a count of child neglect March 14, 2014. Matthews was ordered into the First Step Infants and Mothers Programs under house arrest for two years. She was also sentenced to serve three years probation, which she is still serving. The conviction was withheld from her record.

At 11 a.m. Friday, her latest boyfriend abused her other daughter, according to child protective investigators.

Young was the only one present at the time the girl was hurt. His 3-year-old son was in another room watching TV.

The girl's leg buckled, he first told investigators. He called Matthews at her job and told her she needed to come home because he the girl's leg was broken.

Their boss -- they work at the same Boston Market -- called back to tell him to take the girl to the hospital and Matthews would meet him there. Young then called his own mother on the way to the hospital, telling her the same story he told Matthews, according to the arrest report.

Investigators conducted a doll re-enactment and Young demonstrating by pulling the doll slowly off the 22-inch-high couch onto the hardwood floor.

"He said he saw (her) leg buckle and heard her cry out," Zimmermann wrote.

At the CPID office, after being read his rights for a recorded interview, Young changed his story.

Young's criminal history includes arrests for petty theft, multiple counts of domestic violence, driving with a suspended license and contempt of court.

Jessica De Leon, Herald law enforcement reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7049. You can follow her on Twitter @JDeLeon1012.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bradenton man charged with aggravated child abuse after slamming girlfriend's daughter on floor, breaking her leg ."