An Irwin Township man is facing a child endangerment charge after his grandson, who has a disability, was found to be malnourished and missing school, according to police.
Franklin state police filed the charge against James Guffey, 48, who was the child’s guardian, after an investigation police said spanned many months.
State police said in a criminal complaint that back in March, a teacher at a school in Zelienople filed a suspected child abuse report concerning an 11-year-old male student who has been diagnosed with autism and is non-verbal.
Due to continued concerns about the boy failing to thrive, Children and Youth Services advised Guffey to take the boy to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh where the boy was admitted to the hospital for malnourishment, the complaint said.
At the hospital, numerous tests were done, but “nothing abnormal was found during the testing” and no medical issues that could explain the weight loss were found, according to the complaint.
A doctor at Children’s Hospital said in her professional opinion the child was “a victim of chronic neglect,” the complaint said.
In May, state police interviewed Guffey, who told them that the boy goes through phases where he will refuse to eat anything and that the boy missed school in January due to vomiting and other issues, the complaint said.
Guffey told police the boy is able to eat food and that food has always been available to him, according to the complaint.
At different times during the investigation, bruises were noted on the boy and when Guffey was asked about this he said he didn’t know how they happened or hadn’t noticed them or he “provided inconsistent stories” of how the boy got the bruises, the complaint said.
In October, the boy had a medical incident at school and was again transported to Children’s Hospital where doctors found a number of bruises and abrasions on his body as well as other injuries that were in various stages of healing, according to the complaint.
The same doctor at Children’s who had seen him earlier in the year said the bruises and other injuries were “virtually diagnostic of physical child abuse” and that she continued to have concerns that the boy was being neglected since he had not gained weight since the spring time, the complaint said.
After being discharged from the hospital, the boy was placed in a foster home and since that time he began gaining weight, according to the complaint.
The complaint notes that since the boy was placed in foster care, the caseworker said he seems to be thriving and “sees improvement in his condition overall.”
Police spoke with the boy’s foster mother this month and she said that when the boy initially came to her house, “it seemed like she couldn’t feed him enough” and that at first he would eat so fast he would throw up, the complaint said.
She said over time the food aggressiveness and vomiting have subsided as the boy has learned to eat at a normal pace, according to the complaint.
The foster mother also noted she hasn’t experienced the boy refusing to eat, the complaint said.
Guffey was arraigned Dec. 22 on one felony count of endangering the welfare of children, and he was placed in the Venango County jail after being unable to post bail.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Central Court.
