McDonald's not accused of physically harming the boy personally. Rather, he's said to have allowed the child's grandmother, Edna Iddings, to do so. Arrest affidavit and photos below.
According to the affidavit, officers first spoke to the boy at the Double Tree Hotel on Quebec Street; an employee found him hiding in the parking garage. Officers subsequently "observed fresh injuries on the male child's buttocks and back as well as other bruises on his neck and legs and face," as well as his terror at the prospect of his father taking him back to his grandmother's house, from which he'd just fled.
Why? For one thing, his grandma, Iddings, age seventy, allegedly said "she was going to kill him" after he'd endured "months of physical abuse." The previous night, the document maintains, Iddings "hog tied" the boy with a brown extension cord and left him on the tile floor of the home's entryway. Because his arms and legs were pinioned behind him, he had urinated on himself, which further enraged Iddings. The affidavit quotes the boy as saying she expressed her displeasure by whipping him with the handy cord.
Appropriately, Iddings was the first person accused with child abuse in the matter, followed a few weeks back by Janelle McDonald, the boy's 47-year-old aunt, who lived in the home and allegedly understood that abuse was ongoing, but did nothing to stop it. And now, Mario McDonald, the 29-year-old father, who allegedly pulled the boy out of school the previous March after officials at the Aurora facility he attended noticed signs of abuse, is getting the same treatment for the same reasons.
Dad faces three counts of child abuse and one involving false imprisonment. He was scheduled to make a court appearance this morning.
Below, see photos of Iddings and both McDonalds, as well as a release from the Denver District Attorney's Office and the complete arrest affidavit.
Denver District Attorney's Office release:MORE CHARGES FILED IN ABUSE CASEDenver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has formally charged a father in connection with allegations of child abuse involving a 10-year-old boy. The charges were filed February 17, 2011.
Mario McDonald (dob: 04-01-81) is charged with three counts of child abuse causing serious bodily injury (F3, F4) and one count of false imprisonment (F5).
The charges allege that McDonald knew about and was complicit in repeated abuse allegedly caused by a grandmother, Edna Iddings, that included being whipped and tied up with electrical cords.
McDonald remains in custody in the Denver Detention Center; his bond is set at $50,000. He is scheduled to appear in Denver County Courtroom 2100 tomorrow, February 23, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. to be formally advised of the charges.
Iddings and another family member, Janelle McDonald, were charged earlier in connection with the abuse.
Mario McDonald Arrest Affidavit:
More from our Colorado Crimes archive: "Travis Anderson guilty of letting abused child die while he surfed Internet about stolen tools."
