Alleged Child Abuse Caught on Videotape
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ORANGE — An Orange man faces torture and molestation charges after his wife set up a video camera and captured him allegedly abusing an infant she was baby-sitting, officials said Saturday.
Richard Leonard, 28, faces a life prison sentence if he is convicted of torture, child abuse and sexual assault charges, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Clesceri said.
He is being held in custody on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned June 6 in Municipal Court in Santa Ana.
The prosecutor said she has never seen such violence captured on videotape in a child abuse case.
Authorities said Lisa Leonard set up a video camera in her living room after the 20-year-old mother of the baby girl reported seeing bruises on the child.
The baby sitter thought the child might have been hurting herself by climbing from a playpen.
When the baby sitter watched the videotape, she instead saw her husband repeatedly hitting the child, Clesceri said.
The woman reportedly ran with the baby and videotape to a neighbor’s house and called police.
The husband allegedly beat and molested the child while his wife picked up her children from school, the prosecutor said.
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