Father charged for severe physical abuse of children in Cross Creek Township
State police have arrested a Bellaire, Ohio, man who had been under investigation since September for allegations of beating his children in Cross Creek Township.
Police charged Jermaine Lamar Lane, 31, with felonies of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children on March 16. He was arraigned on those charges Friday afternoon before District Judge Phillippe Melograne.
According to the criminal complaint, Lane beat his two 7-year-old sons so severely that a UPMC Children’s Hospital doctor determined that one was at “grave risk for continued serious injury and even death” if he remained living with Lane.
Police said that the abuse took place at a home on Browntown Road in Cross Creek Township, as well as at two other houses in Pittsburgh and Verona.
Police were first alerted to the abuse after a school nurse at Avella Elementary School found bruising, scars and bite marks on the back and stomach of one of the children. According to the complaint, the child also had a cut on his head.
Investigators interviewed the children’s step-siblings, who said that Lane would beat them with a belt. The siblings also indicated that Lane only beat his biological children, according to court documents.
In further interviews, the siblings reported that Lane would choke the children, and on one occasion choked them to the point of losing consciousness.
Six children were removed from Lane’s care and placed in foster care.
When the child was evaluated at Children’s Hospital, a doctor found injuries all over his body, including at least 10 bite marks on his back. The doctor reported to investigators that the youth was “unequivocally the victim of physical abuse on multiple occasions.”
The other child had multiple lesions on his back, arms and thighs. According to the complaint, a doctor reported that the injuries “caused substantial pain at the time that they were inflicted.”
Melograne sent Lane to the Washington County jail on $250,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. May 11.