Man Accused of Beating Toddler

A 23-year-old St. Petersburg man is under arrest and charged with felony child abuse, after his girlfriend's 2-year-old son was rushed to All Children's Hospital as a trauma alert.

Anthony Prestero of 9th Avenue North was arrested by police Saturday, after officers were called to Bayfront Medical Center to investigate a case of possible child abuse.

The victim is a 2-year-old boy rushed to the hospital by fire rescue personnel, after being summoned by Prestero. Prestero refused to allow the medical personnel inside his house and met responders outside, holding the boy, who was unsconscious.

The child was transported to Bayfront Medical Center where closer examination
revealed the child had severe head and facial injuries that were inconsistent
with a fall as Prestero described.  

The child was admitted to All Children's Hospital as a trauma alert and stabilized.

The child's 28-year -old mother told police that she had left her son in the care of her boyfriend, while she went to purchase drugs.

The boyfriend called her cell phone to say something had happened to the child.

Prestero told detectives that the child had fallen from a couch, and then later claimed that the child had fallen from a kitchen counter.

As the injuries to the child were consistent with a beating and not with the
accident Prestero had described, he was arrested and charged with felony child abuse.