Photo: Ivan Froit
A Marion County man, 30-year-old Ivan Froit of Flippin, has pled guilty to a felony domestic battering charge involving striking his then 2-year-old son and has been sentenced to 10 years supervised probation.
The sentence was handed down late last month in Marion County Circuit Court by Judge Gordon Webb through a negotiated plea agreement. Online court documents indicate under the terms of the agreement, Froit will have no contact with his son or the child’s mother except under court order. He will also have to complete anger management and parenting classes in the first year of his probation and will be screened for substance abuse. He will also have to pay a $2,000 fine, court costs, fines and fees.
The possible penalties for the charge are five to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Froit’s probationary period will begin with his release from the Marion County Detention Center where he is serving time for an unspecified misdemeanor conviction from the City of Flippin.
Froit was arrested last August. According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 30, a 2-year-old male was treated at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) in Little Rock. ACH medical records indicate the toddler had an abrasion and swelling to the upper lip, bruising to his cheeks, chin, forehead, temple and under both eyes and left ear, with swelling and bruising of the scalp just above the left ear.
The child’s mother told authorities she received the toddler back from his biological father, identified as Froit, on July 28. Froit told the child’s mother the 2-year-old had fallen while at the playground. The child had been in Froit’s care for two weeks.
A physician with ACH said the number and locations of the bruising would not be accounted for by a playground fall. Instead, the physician said the injuries suggest being struck on multiple occasions.
The doctor noted there was no specific pattern to suggest a particular implement versus a hand or fist. She said at the time of the treatment at ACH the appearance of the bruising indicated the event(s) occurred within the last few days.
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