TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A 26-year-old Tacoma-area man charged with raping and assaulting his girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter is being held on $1 million bail.
Thomas Babler pleaded not guilty to child rape and assault when he was arraigned Friday in Pierce County Superior Court.
The News-Tribune says (https://goo.gl/Nn4Bi4) Babler is a former soldier. He was arrested on Tuesday after the girl’s mother took the child to a Tacoma hospital. Doctors there found the girl had a skull fracture, internal bleeding and had been sexually assaulted.
Prosecutors say Babler told the mother that the child had fallen off the couch and hit her head. He later reportedly told detectives he hurt the girl during a violent rage he sometimes has in his sleep. He said he knocked her off the bed and she hit a water heater.
Babler denied knowledge of raping the girl.
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Information from: The News Tribune, https://www.thenewstribune.com
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