Detectives in Citrus County have arrested a Beverly Hills man they say struck and repeatedly burned a 4-year-old boy with a lit cigarette.
Randy James Bratton, 28, was charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse Friday. He was being held in the Citrus County Detention facility on $40,000 bond.
According to Citrus County Sheriff's detectives, an investigation was opened after authorities received a report of possible child abuse through a hotline.
A child protection team examined the boy and documented several injuries, including a bruise under his right eye, bruising on both hips and thighs and cigarette-burn-like scars on his feet, right elbow and upper left arm.
The boy was interviewed and claimed Bratton hit him with an open hand and burned him with cigarettes, detectives said.
Bratton reportedly admitted to restraining the child and burning his arm with the cigarette, but he said he did it because the boy would not stop running near his lighted cigarette. Bratton denied burning the child on other occasions and offered explanations for the bruising.
A detective said he interviewed the child's mother and she became "extremely confrontational."
An arrest affidavit did not specify Bratton's relationship to the boy.