UPDATE: Feb. 14, 10:14 a.m. - One of the court-appointed supervisors involved in the case has reached out to North Penn Now to clarify that the safety plan has been followed as it was designed, and the abuse reported to police on Feb. 8 occurred prior to the hospitalization in September.
“The safety plan has been followed since September,” said the supervisor, who requested that we not use their name. “The child, along with his sister, has been staying with his grandparents, and the mother visits them every night. She’s allowed to have supervised contact.”
The court-appointed supervisor stated that, following the victim’s hospitalization in September, they knew that something was troubling the boy.
“For months we knew something was up and we couldn’t get it out of him,” said the supervisor. “After going to therapy, he finally broke down and said he couldn’t hold it in anymore.”
At that point, the mother notified one of the other court-appointed supervisors about the previously-unreported abuse, and then took the victim to the police station to file another report.
“The mom is a really good mother,” said the supervisor. “She’s doing everything she can for the kids.”
Marquis Thomas, 32, has been charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault, three felony counts of strangulation – applying pressure to throat or neck, three felony counts of strangulation – blocking the nose and mouth, three felony counts of unlawful restraint of a minor and three felony counts of endangering the welfare of a child, in connection with the incident. Thomas also has been charged with multiple misdemeanor counts of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, as a result of the investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, a joint investigation between the Hatfield Township Police Department and the Montgomery County Detectives was launched on Sept. 18, regarding the suspected physical abuse of an 8-year-old male victim who had been admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with orbital trauma on Sept. 15. The report states that one of the victim’s doctors made note that the injuries to the child’s face were consistent with inflicted trauma/child abuse, and expressed a high level of concern for the child’s safety.
The Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth became involved two days later, creating a safety plan that would place the victim into the custody of his maternal grandparents, allow the mother to have supervised contact with her son, and prohibit Thomas from having any contact with the victim.
On Feb. 8, the victim’s mother took her son to the Hatfield Township Police Station after he stated that Thomas had “hurt him." The victim was further interviewed the next day, where he disclosed that on multiple occasions, his “dad”—identified as Thomas—made him indefinitely do push-ups, standing squats, or stand on his head until told to stop. The victim also stated that Thomas would choke him, causing him to scream in pain.
As a result, Thomas was arrested on Feb. 9, and was arraigned on all charges by Magisterial District Judge John Kessler, who set bail at $500,000. He was then remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail.
Thomas’ next court appearance is a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 19 at 9 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Hudak Duffy.
(Editor's note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
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