BENTONVILLE, Ark. — A Siloam Springs man is being held on a $500,000 bond after being arrested in connection with abusing a 3-year-old boy.
Rolando Obispo Jr., 23, was arrested Wednesday in connection with domestic battery in the first degree and domestic battery in the second degree. Prosecutors haven’t filed formal charges against him.
Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green set Obispo’s bond Thursday at $500,000 cash only.
Obispo’s arrest came after someone asked Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies to do a welfare check Tuesday at a home concerning a child with severe bruising all over his body. The person reported having photographs of the child’s injuries, according to the affidavit.
A deputy went to the home and learned an incident with the child happened in early April. The deputy was shown a video Tuesday showing the boy with both of his eyes blackened, his left eye swollen shut and missing hair, according to court documents.
Brianna Sester, the boy’s mother and Obispo’s girlfriend, said she went to the store and left her son with Obispo. She said Obispo called and texted her to come home, and when she returned she saw her son’s face was bruised and swollen, the affidavit states.
Sester said Obispo told her he was trying to change the boy’s diaper, and he was kicking and crawling away. Sester said Obispo told her he picked up the boy by his hair and threw him to the ground. Obispo told her he then picked up the boy by his ears and threw him onto the bed and slapped him because he wouldn’t stop crying, according to the affidavit.
Deputies met Sester on Wednesday at Arkansas Children’s Northwest and learned the boy had a parietal skull fracture on his left side with soft tissue swelling, according to the affidavit.
