Charges: Man Whipped Boy Over Toilet Training

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 39-year-old Minneapolis man is accused of whipping a 3-year-old developmentally delayed boy near his private area after the boy had problems with toilet training, according to charges filed Tuesday in Hennepin County Court.

Timothy Terrill Chandler was charged with one felony count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident.

According to a criminal complaint, the mother of the 3-year-old boy brought him to Hennepin County Medical Center after he suffered a 3-centimeter long "deep sawtooth shaped horizontal laceration to the inferior scrotum" and an additional 1-centimeter long laceration to his penis.

The boy also had severe swelling of his penis and scrotum and severe contusions on his thighs that included loop marks. The boy also had contusions on his abdomen, butt and back. The boy had to have 12 stitches on his scrotum and penis, the complaint states. Medical officials said the boy suffered injuries that are consistent with being whipped with a belt.

The mother told police she is working with her son on toilet training and that on the afternoon of Dec. 7, the boy was home with his mother and step-father. Chandler got angry with the boy after he smeared feces on the walls of their home and struck the boy several times with a belt. The boy's mother heard commotion and as a result told Chandler to stop punishing him, according to the complaint.

The woman left to pick up another child from school, and Chandler started whipping the boy again with a belt. The boy took a nap, and when the mother woke him up, he couldn't walk, had blood in his diaper and had a swollen scrotum. Chandler admitted to the boy's mother that he "really messed up" and "lost it."

If convicted, Chandler faces up to 25 years in prison and up to $35,000 in fines.