After getting a “gut feeling” that she couldn’t ignore, a Florida mother decided to check her cameras to see how things were going at home in her absence. What she saw had her immediately rushing home to confront her boyfriend, who was quickly arrested after authorities became aware of what he had allegedly done.
Shawn Stone, the 32-year-old boyfriend of a Florida mother, was left home alone with his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son while the mom headed out for a doctor’s appointment with her daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Shortly after leaving home, the mom couldn’t shake her “gut feeling” that something wasn’t right, so she decided to check her home cameras, using an app on her phone. What she saw happening at their house on Valley Forge Road near DeLand had her immediately rushing back home to confront Stone, Fox 35 reported.
According to the Florida mother, when she opened the camera app, she saw Stone standing over her 5-year-old son, beating the boy as punishment for wetting his bed. She said Stone kicked and punched her son in the head repeatedly as the boy lay helplessly balled up in the fetal position on his bed. When her son got up, Stone continued kicking him. The boy begged Stone to stop, but he allegedly grabbed a mop and began striking the child with it, The Blaze reported.
The force of the blows reportedly caused the head of the mop to break off. Then, the camera app suddenly stopped working. The mom rushed home and confronted Stone, who allegedly told her, “I f****** hate you,” and, “I f****** hate your child,” before leaving on an ATV. Authorities were alerted to the incident around 8:30 am when hospital staff called to report the injured child after doctors examined the boy to find that he had a fractured skull and several older injuries, according to Newsweek.
Rather than cooperating with authorities, Shawn Stone attempted to evade police on the ATV. Unfortunately for him, he was spotted while deputies were actively searching for him. He was taken into custody on charges of aggravated child abuse, which is a first-degree felony in Florida and punishable by up to 30 years in prison. He was booked into the Volusia County Jail and denied bond, according to WESH. Sheriff Mike Chitwood shared an image of Stone being detained on Facebook.
“I want to commend these deputies for making quick work of tracking down our Scumbag of the Week. This morning, Shawn M. Stone punched, kicked, and used a mop handle to beat a 5-year-old child who had an accident. The child was taken to the hospital for treatment and Shawn fled on a 4-wheeler,” Chitwood captioned the post. “He was just taken into custody a short time ago and is headed to jail on a charge of aggravated child abuse.”
Stone admitted to police that he had slapped the boy in the mouth with an open hand and grabbed a mop to “pop it over his head,” claiming his “anger got the best of” him after he realized his girlfriend’s son had urinated in his bed. However, Stone denied repeatedly striking the child or beating the boy with the mop. During his interview with police, he said he intended to scare the boy with the threat of being hit but denied causing any serious injury. However, the boy’s injuries paint a much different picture.
The child was transferred from Advent Health DeLand to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando for treatment of the skull fracture. Doctors told detectives that the boy had fractured ribs that were healing, as well as wrist fractures. In addition, detectives noticed multiple other visible injuries on the child’s body, including marks that appeared to be cigarette burns on his right shoulder blade, a lacerated lip with fresh blood, bruising on his face, eyes, top of his head, and a bruise on his left thigh in the shape of a mop handle.
According to the boy’s mother, Shawn Stone had a history of methamphetamine use but hadn’t used meth “in a while.” Sadly, Stone is a convicted felon who has been to prison, records show. In fact, he had been arrested a dozen times since 2010 — with six arrests in 2010 alone — on charges that include burglary, armed burglary, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm, grand theft, dealing in stolen property, and defrauding a pawn shop, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
As recently as 2015, Stone was sentenced to seven years in prison for burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and dealing in stolen property. He was released in 2021, after serving only 5-1/2 years. Apparently, that wasn’t long enough to teach him a lesson, and now, a child has paid the price for this felon’s second chance. Sadly, as Shawn Stone proves, some “men” can’t be rehabilitated. So, single mothers beware before getting involved with a guy like Stone because your child may be the one to suffer the consequences of your lapse in judgment. Thankfully, this mom listened to her “gut” before things got any worse.
