Couple Accused of Abusing Baby

A couple is accused of abusing their young son after hospital staff found the baby to have two broken legs and several broken ribs, some of which had previously healed.

Allegheny County police detectives arrested , 25, and , 28, both of 844 McLaughlin Run Road, and charged them with abusing the 3-month-old boy when the couple brought him to Children’s Hospital on Jan. 19.

Investigators said the couple told them the baby, who was not identified by police, had rolled off the bed and fallen onto a computer monitor at their McLaughlin Run Road apartment. However, injuries found on the baby indicated abuse, according to criminal complaints supporting the arrests.

Dr. Rachel Berger, who examined the baby at the hospital, told police the baby had multiple bruises on his back, elbow, knees and shoulders.

“These injuries are the result of physical child abuse,” Berger wrote in a report to investigators that was included in the criminal complaint. “This baby has been abused on more than one occasion.”

But when investigators questioned Abare the following day, he blamed the injuries on a friend who was wanted by police and staying with the couple. Abare said Matt Thompson took care of the child at times and said he must have injured the boy, according to the criminal complaint.

It wasn’t until Abare claimed the child fell off the bed that they heard a “crunching” sound in the baby’s back. But that explanation didn’t fly with the doctor who examined the baby.

“Given the extent of these injuries, it is difficult to imagine that the adults living with him would not have recognized that there was something wrong with the baby,” Berger wrote in her report. “His extreme fussiness is, in hindsight, almost certainly due to pain.”

Broderick said the couple knew something was wrong with the child on Jan. 19, but did not want to call an ambulance because they didn’t want “too much drama,” according to the complaint. They spent most of the day trying to find a ride before Broderick’s father called 911 and requested and ambulance.

Children and Youth Services took custody of the baby before handing him over to Broderick’s father.

Abare was charged on Feb. 27 with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of aggravated assault, and is in Allegheny County Jail on $50,000 bond. Broderick was charged on that same date with endangering the welfare of a child and jailed on $20,000 bond.

A preliminary hearing for both of them was scheduled for March 12 at District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet office, but that was continued to a later date.

Both also face charges in connection with hiding a fugitive.

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