commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Although it doesn’t exist in reality, it almost seems that there is a nationwide conspiracy among child abusers to come up with new and creative ways to abuse children. A recent alleged abuser, Adam Morton, 27, of Berlin, New Hampshire appears to have come up with a novel form of abuse that was very painful to the victim and virtually effortless on his part. He merely placed the victim in his girlfriend’s clothes dryer, turned it on and gave the boy a “ride”.
The 2-year-old boy had second-degree burns on his back and arms, blisters on his feet, and bruises all over his body. The burn pattern allegedly matched the drum of a clothes dryer and there was a series of cuts and lacerations that matched the bolts on the inside of the appliance, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Bangor detective Tim Shaw.
Nok-Noi Ricker of the Bangor Daily News writes:
A New Hampshire man accused of placing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son in a clothing dryer at her Bangor home last month and turning on the machine remained behind bars Monday.
Adam Morton, 27, of Berlin, New Hampshire, was charged with aggravated assault Aug. 28 and remained in custody at the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor.
“Mr. Morton admitted that on August 2, 2014, he put [the boy] into the dryer, shut the door and turned it on,” Shaw wrote in the affidavit, referring to the injured child. “He stated that [the child] was not in the dryer for very long. He indicated that the dryer made only one revolution.”
Now the ghastly truth is, if the child was actually in the dryer for only one revolution, it seems unlikely that he would have sustained second-degree burns as well as the other damage unless the perp had warmed the dryer up for quite a period of time so that it was RED-HOT. Furthermore, if the child was really only taken on a one-revolution ride, the dryer probably wouldn’t have picked up enough speed to cause “bruises all over his body”, etc. Therefore, I suspect the poor child was probably in the dryer for a lot longer than one revolution.
In fact, Dr. Lawrence Ricci, a Portland physician who consults with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in child abuse and neglect cases, told the police:
“Based on an analysis of the lesions, this trauma could only have occurred inside the dryer. It is also likely that the child was in the dryer for a fairly prolonged period of time, and the dryer, indeed, may have been turning.”
In order to see for themselves, the police tested the dryer and determined it could reach temperatures of up to 180 degrees by running for three minutes.
At the time of the alleged crime, the child’s 24-year-old mother, whose name has apparently not been revealed, had recently split up with the father of the victim and his three older siblings, and had been dating Morton for only a short period of time.
The child’s mother returned home from work at around 4 p.m. on Aug. 2, only to discover her two-year-old was badly injured. She immediately took him to the emergency room at Eastern Maine Medical Center.
The mother does not believe, however, that her new boyfriend is the one who subjected her child to this torture. Nok-Noi Ricker writes:
“For me, I don’t believe for a second Adam did it,” the mother said Monday, standing on the front steps of her apartment holding her scarred child. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. For me, [the evidence is] inconclusive.”
“Somebody had to do something to him. He was really beat up,” she said later. “He has three older brothers, and boys get crazy and play rough.”
It is the mother’s contention that the police pressured Morton into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit:
“The detective said things would go a lot smoother if he confessed. It was weeks of pressure. It wasn’t just two interviews. I told him to get a polygraph. I told him not to confess to something you never did.”
“It’s not because of my feeling for Adam. It just doesn’t make sense. I can’t explain what happened. I can’t explain how he got the burns.”
Detective Josh Kuhn and Tim Shaw reportedly interviewed Morton twice in Berlin, New Hampshire, where he moved to from Bangor shortly after the incident. Morton apparently confessed on August 27th.
“I asked him if he ‘snapped,’ he told me he did,” Shaw wrote. “He stated he was remorseful and regretted that it had ever happened.”
According to the affidavit, Morton’s story changed several times during the course of the questioning. He initially said he did a load of laundry while he took a shower. At another point, he accused the older boys of injuring the child before finally admitting to the aggravated felony assault that could result in up to 10 years in prison.
The mother’s protestations notwithstanding, I suspect that Morton did put the child in the dryer, turned it on and left him there for way too long.
Although his bail is only $2,500, Morton has been unable to post it and remains in jail at present. Superior Court Justice Ann Murray has barred him from contacting any children under the age of 6.
As is often the situation in cases of this nature, Morton is likely to be indicted by the Grand Jury, and was not asked to enter a plea at his initial appearance.
The victim and his three brothers are reportedly still living in Bangor with their mother.
The boy’s father, Mike Sousa of New Hampshire, feels that a potential 10-year prison stretch is hardly sufficient for a crime of this magnitude.
“The charges were aggravated assault, which I kinda question. If he’s a 30-year-old man, and my son is a 2-year-old boy and he admits to putting him in a dryer. I don’t know what world we live in today, but that’s definitely … attempted murder at least.”
Sousa justified his opinion, in part, by describing the boy’s injuries:
“It was really awful. There was like a yellow pus on his really bad burn on his [right] elbow, and it stretched [across his back] to his left shoulder blade.
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It goes without saying that what Morton did is really awful (assuming he is guilty). What I also find to be of concern is the fact the victim’s mother entrusted the care of her four boys to Morton when she hardly knew him. As any experienced parent knows all too well, trying to keep four lively boys in check is no easy task, especially when they don’t know you and may, in fact, be suspicious of the fact you are “getting naked” with their mother. Just a bad situation all around.
I am curious, however, as to what Morton was thinking. Did it really think he was going to get away with it? This assumes guilt, of course, but it seems somewhat unlikely that he would have confessed to a crime this serious if he were innocent, no matter how hard the police leaned on him.
Update:
The Penobscot County district attorney says a jury on Wednesday indicted Adam Morton, of Berlin, on aggravated assault charges. The boy suffered burns and blisters due to the incident.
Police say Morton admitted he put the toddler inside the dryer but said it was for only one revolution of the drum. A doctor who examined the boy told police he was in the dryer for a prolonged period.