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Man accused of beating child
The 23-month-old boy, the son of the man's girlfriend, has bruises all over his body and is in critical condition.
By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published June 21, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - About three weeks ago, April Dibert paid $150 to bail her boyfriend out of jail. Kevin White was facing charges of drinking and yelling in a parking lot. White, 21, went back to jail Tuesday. This time, he is accused of beating Dibert's 23-month-old son. The boy, covered in bruises, was in critical condition at a local hospital with significant brain damage, authorities said. The Sheriff's Office said Tuesday the boy's prognosis is poor. White faces a charge of aggravated child abuse. He's had several run-ins with the law before, but Florida Department of Law Enforcement records don't show any convictions for major crimes. He has a grim reaper tattoo on his left arm. When authorities went to the mobile home in Caroline Trailer Court on Haines Road where Dibert and White live, they found a toddler suffering from "multiple blunt force trauma." The Sheriff's Office said Dibert, 20, is not suspected of having any knowledge of the abuse. She could not be reached for comment. White is not the boy's biological father, but the Sheriff's Office said he has been living with Dibert for about two months. An arrest report describes swelling of brain, retinal hemorrhages and bruises on the boy's arms, legs and forehead. White denied abusing the child, the Sheriff's Office said. He said he closed the door to the bathroom, causing the boy to fall backward and hit his head. "The story is not consistent with the bruises on the child, nor does it explain the head injury that the boy sustained," Sheriff's Office spokesman Mac McMullen said. According to the Sheriff's Office, Dibert took her son with her to work Monday evening. Connie Warrick, a neighbor, said Dibert worked as a waitress and often brought her son with her. "She just loved that child," said Warrick, 39, who watched over the boy. "He was a little sweetheart and was no trouble at all." White took a cab to Dibert's restaurant that evening to pick up her son. He told authorities that he called for help after the boy accidentally fell and injured himself. Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.
[Last modified June 25, 2006, 11:31:45]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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