A 39-year-old Carson City man was arrested for felony child abuse and DAS violation after allegedly striking a child multiple times with a belt, his hands, and fist.
According to the arrest report, Jeremiah Simpson was arrested in the 900 block of S. Carson St. after a family friend brought a juvenile into the Sheriff’s Office who was bleeding from the nose and complaining of mouth pain. Paramedics were called to assess the child, but determined they did not need to be transferred to the hospital.
The reporting deputy stated in the report that they took the juvenile and family friend into a private room to determine what had occurred.
The child, who will be referred to in this document as P, stated they’d had an argument with Simpson that began the day before regarding P not coming home from school and instead going to a friend’s house.
P told the deputy they’d attempted to go home but did not have a key to the room so they went to a friend’s house instead. P stated Simpson called them and was upset why they weren’t home. P told the deputy they returned home around 10 p.m. and Simpson was asleep.
P said the next morning they decided not to go to school because they were too tired from the argument with Simpson the night before. P said when they woke up, Simpson was upset and made them go check into juvenile probation since they had not gone to school. P said when they returned home they played “internet games” for the remainder of the day.
When Simpson returned home, P said he was intoxicated and had “spent time at the bar” according to the report. P said Simpson was on the phone with his girlfriend and went into the bathroom. P went to use the bathroom and knocked on the door, at which point they said Simpson came out “super upset” and was yelling about not getting any privacy.
P said they got upset and yelled back at Simpson, and told him to leave, and that they’d rather live with another family member instead.
P told the deputy Simpson then took his belt off and began hitting them with it in a back-and-forth motion. The reporting deputy noted P had multiple marks on their left arm consistent with being struck by a belt.
P then said Simpson backhanded them multiple times and “bopped” them in the face. When the deputy asked what “bopped” meant they explained it to be a punch. P then said they called the family friend to come and get them, and told the deputy there was blood on the sheets where they’d been sitting due to their injuries.
Deputies then spoke with the family friend who said she’d gotten a call from P who was “in hysterics” and said the family friend needed to come get them because Simpson had hit them and they were bleeding.
The family friend said she immediately got dressed and went to the hotel where they were staying. She told deputies she knocked on the door, and Simpson answered, and she saw P in the bathroom with a bloody nose holding tissue paper to stop the blood. The family friend said she yelled at Simpson and told him she was taking the kids for the night. She told deputies Simpson became upset and began to yell at her, stating “You don’t know the whole story! You’re stupid for listening to [P]!” according to the report.
The family friend said Simpson continued yelling things as they were going down the stairs. Another child stated they did not want to go with the family friend and P, and stayed behind.
The family friend said they assessed P, noticed there was fresh blood in their mouth, and brought them straight to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies made contact with the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) who sent a caseworker to the scene to determine a placement plan.
Just before 1 a.m. deputies responded to the hotel and made contact with Simpson. The reporting deputy said he asked Simpson if he could enter the room, and Simpson said no. The deputy reported that Simpson “seemed scattered while I was speaking with him.” At one point while they were speaking, Simpson went to grab his phone in the back of the room at which point the deputy observed a bloody white sheet on the bed closest to the closet and what appeared to be blood splatter on the bathroom sink and mirror.
Simpson returned to the front of the room and said at first he didn’t hit P, then said he spanked them on the butt. Simpson “kept making utterances regarding how he was allowed to discipline his kids,” according to the arrest report.
The deputy asked if he could take photos, and Simpson consented. The deputy said as he made his way into the room he noted more blood on the mattress. Simpson said the blood was from P’s bloody nose which had occurred before he got home.
The deputy noted the blood appeared bright red and fresh.
The deputy asked Simpson if he’d struck P with his belt, and he said yes, but only on their butt. The deputy asked why P had belt marks on their arm, and Simpson said it must have occurred when P was trying to “get away.”
The deputy took Simpson’s belt into evidence.
The deputy then asked Simpson why P had “a busted lip and bloody nose” and he stated he gave them a little “bop,” and made a motion with his hand mimicking what he did. He stated he did not punch P in the face.
At one point, Simpson then said P had pushed him on the bed and cut his leg, but refused to lift his pant leg to show deputies the injury. He “kept making comments regarding [P] being a pathological liar and this is why [they’re] on probation,” the report states.
The deputy noted that Simpson’s responses were “very inconsistent” and that he kept leaving events out that he would then admit to.
The deputy spoke with the other child on scene who said they did not want to talk about the incident and refused to provide a statement.
Deputies took Simpson into custody for felony child abuse.
Later, the family friend said around midnight Simpson had sent her voice messages on Facebook where he admitted to hitting P.
Bail: $43,000 total, $3,000 cash only.
All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.
