Boyfriend shook and either beat or tortured 9-month-old Wichita baby, prosecutors allege

A 9-month-old baby girl who was hospitalized with critical injuries was shaken and either tortured or beaten by her mother’s boyfriend, prosecutors allege.

Brietan Ron Rader, 25, was charged Tuesday in Sedgwick County District Court with two counts of child abuse, one count of marijuana cultivation and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. He is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Wichita police Capt. Brent Allred said Rader was arrested late Friday night after officers found a 9-month-old girl with critical injuries amid a marijuana-growing operation at an apartment. Investigators determined the girl’s injuries happened while in the care of Rader, who is the boyfriend of the mom and not the victim’s father.

Prosecutors allege in court documents that Rader shook the child and that he either tortured or “cruelly beat” her. The charging document also alleges Rader was illegally cultivating 10 marijuana plants using pots, lights, fans and temperature control equipment.

Rader called his girlfriend instead of 911 to tell her that her baby wasn’t breathing, police previously said. The mom then got a sheriff’s lieutenant’s attention by flashing her lights at him as he was heading home. Emergency crews then went to the apartment.

The case was one of two over the weekend involving men arrested on suspicion of abusing children. Allred said there was one child death case in 2016, two in 2017, three in 2018 and four in 2019.

“We’ve had a few over the last couple years, and it’s very well possible that these two could turn into a child fatality, too,” Allred said of the two cases.

The girl remained hospitalized in critical condition on Monday. Police did not have an update on her condition on Tuesday.

This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 5:21 PM.