Gainesville man arrested on child abuse charges after allegedly failing to report 10 child abuse incidents

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – D’Angelo Javon Hill, 23, was arrested yesterday for allegedly failing to report at least 10 incidents of child abuse against a four-month-old infant who was taken to the hospital in July and found to have six broken bones.

Anecia Yvonne Graham, 22, the infant’s mother, was arrested in July on child abuse charges, and a judge recently ordered her held without bail until trial.

The deputy who initially investigated the case reported that medical staff said the fractures were consistent with yanking/pulling/tugging and the number of fractures was “alarmingly high” and not consistent with Graham’s statement that the injuries happened during swaddling. A surgeon reportedly said the injuries did not appear accidental and “were done to the child,” but the surgeon could not say whether the injuries were intentional.

A detective reported that in his initial interview, Hill said “the only possible explanation” for the most recent fracture was that the infant “overextended her arm”; he had no explanation for the other fractures, which were in various stages of healing.

A search warrant of Graham’s phone reportedly produced messages between her and Hill regarding 10 incidents in which Graham said she had hurt or injured the infant or was struggling to maintain control of herself.

On April 17, Graham reportedly texted that she hurt the side of the infant’s neck and deserved to be punished, and Hill responded, “if you being punished or hurt how are you gonna take care of me then?”

On April 22, Graham reportedly texted that she had scratched the infant’s cheek because she hadn’t cut her nails. Hill reportedly did not ask how the infant was injured or whether Graham needed help but told Graham, “you wanna leave which is doing the opposite of what you should be doing.”

On May 1, Graham reportedly texted that she was being “absolutely rough with [the infant] and not nice,” and Hill responded that he hoped she had an “amazing day” and said the infant “will be fine.”

On May 8, Hill reportedly texted that he would “have to get police involved,” but there are no records of any call or report to law enforcement.

On June 5, Graham reportedly texted that the infant “is gonna make me catch a murder case,” and Hill told her to “take a breather.” He reportedly did not ask whether the child was injured or what had happened.

On June 18, Graham reportedly texted that she “had a minor episode on her and I feel horrible even though she’s okay and sleeping,” and Hill responded that he hoped she hadn’t hurt the baby by accident. He also reportedly told her to “calm down” and said he missed her.

The detective reported that after reviewing the above texts and others, “it became evident that [Hill] had knowledge of at least 10 specific instances where [Graham] caused injuries to [the infant], stated she was a danger to [the infant], or tried to leave [the infant] to prevent injuries to [the infant]. Despite having this knowledge, there is no evidence that [Hill] took any action to remove [the infant] from the situation, which eventually led to numerous fractures, scratches, and bruises and ultimately the injury requiring surgery on [July 5], resulting in [Graham] being criminally charged with aggravated child abuse.”

Post Miranda, Hill reportedly said he should have called law enforcement sooner to prevent the child from being injured.

Hill has been charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and 10 counts of failing to report child abuse. He has no local criminal history, and Judge Phillip Pena set bail at $150,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.