Judge refuses man to have contact with his alleged victim

Jan. 31--A man accused of breaking a 3-year-old's leg was denied a modification of his bail conditions on Thursday that would allow him to have contact with the boy.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Benjamin Brian Ladd, 27, of the 2000 block of Honey Valley Road, York Township, with aggravated assault after doctors discovered in October that his girlfriend's son had suffered a broken leg, according to charging documents.

Ladd also faces charges of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and endangering the welfare of children.

According to police, the boy, now 4, told a nurse that "Ben" threw him off the bed.

Ladd told investigators he became frustrated and angry at the boy at a home in the first block of East Main Street, Yorkana. The boy became upset when his mother went to take a shower.

Ladd said he became enraged and "saw red" when he told the boy to go to his room and the child refused, documents state. At one point, Ladd grabbed the boy by his shoulders, picked him up and threw him down on a bed, which caused the boy's leg to become twisted underneath him, documents state.

When the boy's mother got out of the shower, she heard him crying and complaining that his leg hurt. She found Ladd treating the boy's leg, which was propped up on a pillow, with an ice pack, documents state.

During an interview with police, Ladd "apologized for his actions," documents state.

Thursday, Ladd's attorney, Shane Kope, asked Judge Gregory M. Snyder to modify Ladd's bail conditions that prohibits him from having any contact with the boy.

"Mr. Ladd has been like father to the boy," Kope said.

Kope said the boy's mother needed Ladd's help raising the boy.

"Because of the nature of the allegations and given the lack of relationship to the victim, I am not inclined to modify the bail," Snyder said.

"We think the bail condition is necessary to insure the safety of the child," he said.

Ladd, who remains free on $40,000 bail, has a pre-trial conference on his case on March 20.

Contact Rick Lee at 717-495-1782.

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