An Augusta man gave his fiancée’s 6-year-old son a black eye and then blamed the injury on a school bully, authorities said.
Harris Flesner allegedly threatened the boy if he told his mom, saying the victim wouldn’t get the video game he wanted. But an investigation showed that Flesner did much more than give a black eye to the child. He abused the boy.
According to a sheriff’s report, Flesner beat the 6-year-old and slammed him against a closet.
“He whooped me so many times… and then he hit me in the face with a pillow,” the boy told a deputy.
The boy suffered bruising to his back and shoulder, and he had a large bruise on his eye and cheek. Social services was notified.
Flesner, 32, of Carr Street, Augusta, was charged with two counts of cruelty to children. He remained in the Richmond County Jail on Sunday night under no bond. (He is pictured at right from his Facebook page.)
MORE DETAILS. The man’s fiancée lives in Lincolnton with the children. But she was attending a wedding rehearsal on Friday when she received a phone call from Flesner, who was watching her two sons, ages 6 and 4.
Flesner said her 6-year-old son had a black eye from school. He even sent her a text with a picture. The boy’s mother knew that was a lie because she had picked up her son from school and there was no sign of injury.
The woman left the rehearsal to pick up the children so they could go to a dinner party. When she picked them up, the 6-year-old son was acting very scared and was not talking while Flesner was around. So she asked her fiancé to go and get a diaper bag.
When Flesner was gone, the woman asked her son what happened. His lip began to tremble and he said if he told, “daddy would not get him the video game,” according to a sheriff’s report.
His mother told him it was OK to tell what happened. “Daddy whooped me,” the boy said. The younger son also spoke up, saying he saw Flesner whopping his older brother.
Deputies tracked down Flesner in Augusta and he was handcuffed in front of his mother and brother. Asked if he knew how the child got a back eye, Flesner said “some boy at school.” He also denied ever touching the boy or threatening to withhold the video game.
Flesner has several previous arrests on his record in Richmond County dating back over a decade, including marijuana possession, shoplifting and disorderly conduct. In 2010, he was charged with five counts of burglary, but the charges were all dismissed after four years on the docket and multiple times when Flesner had his bond revoked, according to jail records.
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